Meet Denise Lombardo, millionaire Jordan Belfort's first wife
Denise Lombardo is an American real estate agent and former sales executive. She is best known as the first wife of Jordan Belfort, the man portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. Denise gained public attention in the early 1990s. This article looks into her life, her marriage to Belfort, and where she is today.
Source: UGC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Key takeaways
- Profile summary
- Who is Denise Lombardo?
- What is Denise Lombardo's age?
- Denise Lombardo's parents and siblings
- Educational background
- What does Denise Lombardo do for a living?
- What did Denise Lombardo's ex-husband do?
- How did Jordan Belfort meet his first wife?
- Did Denise Lombardo get money from Jordan Belfort?
- What happened to the first wife of Jordan Belfort?
- What happened to Denise Lombardo’s ex-husband?
- Where is Denise Lombardo today?
- What is Denise Lombardo's net worth?
- Who played Denise Lombardo in The Wolf of Wall Street?
- Is Denise Lombardo on Instagram?
- Who is Jordan Belfort's first wife in The Wolf of Wall Street?
- Why did Jordan Belfort leave his wife?
- Is Jordan Belfort still rich?
- Why did Donnie betray Jordan?
- How did the FBI find Jordan Belfort's note?
- Facts about Denise Lombardo
Key takeaways
- Denise Lombardo was Jordan Belfort’s first wife and supported him during his early career before his rise and fall on Wall Street.
- Despite their divorce in 1991, Denise built her successful career in real estate and earned a life independent of Belfort’s legacy.
- Her story offers a contrast to the chaos of The Wolf of Wall Street, showing resilience and quiet success beyond the spotlight.
Profile summary
| Full name | Denise Lombardo |
| Nickname | Deni |
| Gender | Female |
| Date of birth | 11th November 1963 |
| Age | 62 years (as of 2025) |
| Zodiac sign | Scorpio |
| Place of birth | Ohio, USA |
| Residence | Washington, DC., USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Height | 5' 2" (157 centimeters) |
| Weight | 135 lbs. (61 kg) Approx. |
| Sexuality | Straight |
| Hair/eye color | Brown |
| Father | Anthony Florito |
| Mother | Ann Lombardo |
| Siblings | 3 |
| Former spouse | Jordan Belfort (1985 - 1991) |
| Marital status | Married |
| Current spouse | Nick Amato |
| Children | 3 |
| High school | Bayside High School |
| University | Adelphi University |
| Qualification | Bachelor's degree in English literature |
| University | Townson University |
| Qualification | Business Administration and Science course |
| University | Australian Catholic University |
| Qualification | Master's in Educational Leadership & Administration General |
| Profession | Real estate agent and sales executive |
| Famous as | Jordan Belfort's first wife |
Who is Denise Lombardo?
Denise Lombardo is the first wife of Jordan Ross Belfort, the American entrepreneur, speaker, and author who inspired The Wolf of Wall Street. The two were married long before Belfort became infamous in 1999 for securities fraud and money laundering.
Denise was by Belfort's side during his early years on Wall Street, before the scandal and chaos that later defined his public image.
What is Denise Lombardo's age?
Denise is 62 years old as of 2025. She was born on 11th November 1963 in Ohio, USA. Due to her private nature, there are no pictures of Denise Lombardo when she was young.
Denise Lombardo's parents and siblings
She is the daughter of Anthony Florito and Ann Lombardo and was raised alongside her two sisters, Deanna and Lisa, and a brother named Paul.
Source: Original
Educational background
Denise attended Bayside High School. She earned a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Adelphi University in 1987. She later pursued a course in Business Administration and Science at Towson University in Maryland.
She also obtained a Master's degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from the Australian Catholic University.
What does Denise Lombardo do for a living?
Lombardo is a real estate agent and sales executive working at Prudential Douglas Elliman Company since 2010. She has also been a flooring specialist at Home Depot Company since 2000.
Before this, Denise was a sales executive at Modern Medical System Company (1993 - 2000) and a customer representative at Smith & Nephew Company (2006 - 2008).
What did Denise Lombardo's ex-husband do?
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) began investigating Jordan Belfort's company, Stratton Oakmont, in 1989. At the time, he had been married to Denise Lombardo for about three years.
However, the investigation did not end their marriage. It was Belfort's affair with model Nadine Caridi that ultimately led to their separation. The couple divorced five years before NASD expelled Stratton Oakmont in 1996. In 1999, Jordan Belfort was indicted for securities fraud and money laundering.
Because Denise had once been married to him, she could not avoid media attention when his financial crimes and controversial lifestyle came to light.
Source: UGC
How did Jordan Belfort meet his first wife?
There are two conflicting accounts of how Jordan Belfort (born in 1962 in The Bronx, New York) met his first wife, Denise Lombardo (born in 1963 in Ohio).
One version claims they met while Denise was working at a hair salon. Another says they were high school classmates at Bayside High School.
However, in his memoir The Wolf of Wall Street, Belfort writes that he was working as a meat and seafood salesman when he first met Lombardo.
After high school, Belfort and his childhood friend, Elliot Loewenstern, sold Italian ice at a local beach and reportedly earned $20,000 from the business.
He later used that money to enroll in the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, after completing a biology degree at American University. His plans to become a dentist did not materialize, so he turned to door-to-door meat and seafood sales on Long Island, New York.
According to Belfort, he met Denise while trying to sell meat to the owner of a hair salon where she worked. He was "blown away" by her beauty and kept asking for her number. Eventually, he rushed home to pick up his Porsche in an attempt to impress her.
The two reportedly married in 1985. Belfort’s meat business collapsed in 1987, leading him to file for bankruptcy.
Afterward, a family friend helped him land a job as a trainee stockbroker at L.F. Rothschild, launching his career in finance.
Source: UGC
The formation of Stratton Oakmont and subsequent criminal charges
The company fired Jordan Belfort in 1987 after it faced financial difficulties caused by the Black Monday stock market crash.
Following this, Belfort founded the Stratton Oakmont franchise. The company specialized in marketing penny stocks and defrauded investors through "pump and dump" schemes.
At its peak, Stratton Oakmont employed over 1,000 stockbrokers and traded stocks worth more than $1 billion.
During this period, Belfort lived a lavish lifestyle. He was involved in an extramarital affair and developed an addiction to recreational narcotics.
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) began investigating Stratton Oakmont in 1989.
By then, Belfort and Denise Lombardo had already divorced in 1991. NASD shut down Stratton Oakmont in December 1996. Belfort was later arrested in 1999 for securities fraud and money laundering.
During the investigation, he cooperated with the FBI. He wore a wire and testified against several associates in exchange for a reduced sentence. This included turning on many of his former friends and business partners, such as Danny Porush.
On July 18, 2003, Belfort was sentenced to four years in prison. He served only 22 months at the Taft Correctional Institution in California, under a plea deal for running schemes that defrauded investors of approximately $200 million.
The court ordered him to repay $110.4 million to the victims. His story gained widespread attention and inspired two crime films: Boiler Room (2000) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). The latter portrayed his illegal activities and controversial lifestyle.
Today, Jordan Belfort is a social media personality with millions of TikTok followers. He has used his notoriety to build a following as an online celebrity.
Source: UGC
Did Denise Lombardo get money from Jordan Belfort?
After divorcing Jordan Belfort, Denise got a considerable sum in financial settlement from her wealth with her ex-husband, but they did not disclose publicly the exact amount.
What happened to the first wife of Jordan Belfort?
Belfort was still running his Stratton Oakmont franchise when he divorced Denise Lombardo in 1991. The two never had children together. Three years later, Denise remarried and had three children with her second spouse.
Who is Denise Lombardo married to?
She is married to Nick Amato, but little is known about him because he keeps his life private.
Denise Lombardo’s kids
Denise Lombardo and her current husband, Nick Amato, have three sons, Brett, Nicolas, and Matt.
What happened to Denise Lombardo’s ex-husband?
Jordan Belfort rekindled his romance with American model Nadine Caridi, whom he had dated before meeting Denise. They met at a Westhampton Beach House party and quickly struck up an affair. He wrote in his memoir:
I should’ve been horsewhipped for what I did to Denise. I don’t care if it’s Wall Street or Main Street. What I did was in-f*cking-excusable.
Source: UGC
Belfort cheated on Denise Lombardo “dozens of times” with the model before she finally found out. The affair was all over the newspapers, and Denise received the short end of the stick. He wrote:
I mean, she was a twenty-five-year-old girl who was dumped for some young hot model. And the newspapers painted her to be some old socialite who’d lost her sex appeal — like she was being traded in for a girl who still had some life left in her!
After divorcing in 1991, Jordan married the model in 1991 and had two children with her: daughter Chandler (1993) and son Carter (1996).
The two would later divorce in 2005 over claims of domestic violence, infidelity, and narcotics addiction. That was after Belfort reportedly kicked her down the stairs of their Long Island mansion.
Following the divorce, Nadine moved to California with the children. She once told IndieWire why she and Jordan always fought in their marriage:
He was a drug addict… I didn’t care about the hookers or coming home late…
She said he would be doing crack in front of their newborn baby.
Jordan Belfort and Nadine Caridi have moved on. Belfort married Anne Koppe between 2008 and 2020. Nonetheless, Belfort and Koppe are business partners. His current wife is Cristina Invernizzi, and they have been married since 2021.
On the other hand, Nadine Caridi went to therapy and became a therapist. She was 39 when she earned two degrees in Counseling and a PhD in Somatic and Depth psychology.
Caridi also married film producer John Macaluso. They have maintained a healthy blended family for over 22 years while she also co-parents with Belfort.
What is Cristina Invernizzi's age?
Cristina Invernizzi was born on April 3, 1990, which makes her 35 years old as of 2025.
Where is Denise Lombardo today?
Jordan Belfort's ex-wife is a real estate agent/sales executive at Prudential Douglas Elliman Company and a flooring specialist at the Depot Company.
Source: UGC
What is Denise Lombardo's net worth?
There is no reliable source on Denise Lombardo's net worth. She is, however, speculated to have considerable wealth. Her money comprises her career earnings and her compensation after divorcing Jordan Belfort.
Denise Lombardo's real estate career of over a decade is her primary source of income. She has worked in the sector since October 2010.
Meanwhile, Celebritynetworth.com reports that her former husband, Jordan Belfort's net worth is -$100 million.
Who played Denise Lombardo in The Wolf of Wall Street?
American actor Leonardo DiCaprio played Jordan Belfort, while American actress Cristin Milioti took the role of Teresa Petrillo to portray Denise Lombardo.
Since the film's release, Denise has not made any public comments, so it is not clear whether she found the film's portrayal of her accurate.
On the other hand, Jordan Belfort's side chick-turned-second wife, Nadine Caridi, was featured in the film as the character Naomi Lapaglia (played by actress Margot Robbie). Nadine said in a video on TikTok:
If you look at [the film] through Jordan’s lens, it was really accurate. And I think that if you look at it through my lens, it wasn’t, and that makes sense because that was actually how our marriage was. However, I went to therapy, I became a therapist… and so I am able to discern his truth, my truth, and everything in between.
Source: UGC
Is Denise Lombardo on Instagram?
Jordan Belfort's first wife has no social media account the public knows of.
Who is Jordan Belfort's first wife in The Wolf of Wall Street?
Jordan Belfort’s first wife is Denise Lombardo, represented in The Wolf of Wall Street film as Teresa Petrillo. In the movie, her character is portrayed by Cristin Milioti.
Why did Jordan Belfort leave his wife?
Jordan Belfort left his first wife, Denise Lombardo, reportedly due to infidelity and his increasingly reckless lifestyle during his early rise on Wall Street. As he became wealthy through stock manipulation and fraud, his personal life also unraveled.
Is Jordan Belfort still rich?
Jordan Belfort is indeed still financially well-off, but his net worth estimates vary wildly due to the large restitution he still owes to defrauded investors. Celebrity Net Worth lists his wealth at -$100 million.
Why did Donnie betray Jordan?
In The Wolf of Wall Street, Donnie Azoff (based on real-life Danny Porush) did not exactly "betray" Jordan Belfort out of personal malice. Instead, his decision to cooperate with the FBI was a survival move.
How did the FBI find Jordan Belfort's note?
The FBI discovered Jordan Belfort’s note because he handed it directly to Donnie Azoff. At the time, Donnie was already wearing a wire as part of his cooperation with the authorities. The character of Donnie Azoff is based on Belfort’s real-life business partner, Danny Porush.
Facts about Denise Lombardo
- Jordan Belfort paid Denise Lombardo a considerable amount of money as a divorce settlement.
- Her life is illustrated in Jordan Belfort’s memoir The Wolf of Wall Street — and its film adaptation.
- She avoids high-profile public appearances.
- She speaks English, German, and Italian.
- She has Italian ancestry.
Denise Lombardo is best known as the first wife of former stockbroker Jordan Belfort, who ran the fraudulent firm Stratton Oakmont. While the company defrauded investors of around $200 million, Denise has stayed out of the spotlight and prefers a quiet, private life.
Yen.com.gh published Laurie Holden's biography. She is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and human rights activist. Holden was a theater actress before she landed her first movie role at age 20.
Today, the actress is best known for her portrayals as Andrea Harrison in AMC's The Walking Dead, Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, and Amanda Dumfries in The Mist.
Source: YEN.com.gh
Favour Adeaga (Lifestyle writer) Favour is an author, speaker, and coach. He graduated with a degree in Mass Communication from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria, in 2011. He had his internship programme at The Nation Newspaper and taught diploma students in Newspaper and Magazine course at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. He curates the facts and life hacks category since 2018. Favour is the author of two books available on Amazon. He currently lives in Nigeria. favouradeaga@gmail.com
Peris Walubengo (Lifestyle writer) Peris Walubengo has vast experience in search engine optimization through digital content generation, research, editing, and proofreading. She joined Yen.com.gh in April 2022 and has done several Google News Initiative Courses. You can email her at perisrodah254@gmail.com.
