Wolves in wolves' clothing bite hard

Everyone I bumped into last week asked me two questions: Why wasn't I at Davos, and had I seen The Wolf of Wall Street?

Davos is an exclusive retreat in the Swiss Alps where the rich arrive in private jets to discuss the poor world's problems. If you detect a tinge of envy in the previous sentence it's because I am not a politician, philanthropist or businessman influential enough to make the invitee list.

Even so, for me the entrance fee is far too outlandish to justify the privilege of standing next to Michael Dell in the gents, or perching myself at a table next to Lloyd Blankfein in a cocktail lounge. The intellectual stuff I can read in the Financial Times or the Economist. Still, with countless billionaires and country heads lurking about, and film stars leading meditation sessions, I am sure I could provide sufficient spin to defend the benefits and expense of attending, should I ever crack the nod.

The public will believe anything, which brings me to The Wolf of Wall Street.

I have no intention of watching the movie. It glamorises the activities, in the mid-1990s, of an oily Wall Street trader, Jordan Belfort, whose singular motivation in life was to make millions of dollars by dumping "penny stocks" he'd accumulated on uninformed and innocent investors at talked-up prices. Belfort's victims were the same innocent people who lost their pensions to J Arthur Brown, Barry Tannenbaum or Bernie Madoff, although one can argue that greed also played a big part in attracting followers to these loathsome reprobates.

I do not find greatness in characters like Belfort, nor do I find it liberating to live through his experiences, which are the memories of individuals whose deceptive behaviour brought shame and humiliation to the financial industry, including our own.

At around the same time Belfort was applying his "boiler room" tactics on a grand scale in New York, local stockbroker Greg Blank was operating a similar ruse on the JSE, with one advantage, though. While Belfort had to dig out customers, Blank had conspired with certain traders at Old Mutual, South Africa's premier financial institution, to buy the acquired stock from him.

The charismatic and engaging Blank would gather parcels of shares on behalf of his syndicate, warehousing them in domestic and foreign accounts. He would then actively promote the stock to family, friends and clients, bidding up the price in the process. When there was sufficient margin of profit on a trade he would offload the holding to Old Mutual. Blank was smart enough to cover his tracks and put possible investigators off his trail by executing buying and selling legs through a series of broking firms.

In 1992 Blank was sentenced to eight years in prison for his actions, but served less than two. Marco Celotti, a former Old Mutual employee and alleged co-conspirator, escaped capture and is still on the run. Another alleged accomplice, Old Mutual's David Schapiro, committed suicide in a police holding cell soon after his arrest.

The Wolf of Wall Street does more to glorify Belfort's flashy and depraved lifestyle than transcend his devious acts and heal the financial pain he inflicted on investors who least could afford the losses, even though he still claims the customers he fleeced were wealthy. The movie has also redeemed Belfort's reputation, elevating his celebrity status and dramatically hiking his charge as a motivational speaker.

Blank has rebuilt his life. He is a proud father, keeps in shape and is a respected member of the racehorse fraternity. Nor has he lost his charm and magnetic appeal as a financial kingpin. When word emerged a few years ago that he was heavily invested in Sacoil, an oil exploration company, it sparked a buying frenzy on the JSE that hoisted the share price from 50c to 260c. With little evidence to support the fundamentals, the share price soon fell all the way back to its current price of 30c. Awestruck, his followers still believe one day his ventures will help them rise above the great unrich.