Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson

Celebrity News

Steve Madden not keen on his portrayal in ‘Wolf of Wall Street’

Steve Madden liked “The Wolf of Wall Street,” but he didn’t applaud the way he was portrayed by Dustin Hoffman’s son, Jake.

“The guy was too nerdy,” Madden told me Monday, in his first interview about the movie. The only detail director Martin Scorsese got right was the baseball cap that never leaves Madden’s head.

If there’s ever a sequel to “Wolf,” it should focus on Madden getting the last laugh.

In “Wolf,” as in real life, “pump and dump” schemer Jordan Belfort and his cohorts at Stratton Oakmont took Madden’s shoe company public in 1993. When the feds closed in on Belfort, he made things easier on himself by squealing on Madden and others who, like Belfort, had profited handsomely from the brokerage firm’s illegal activities.

“He ratted me out to save himself, but it was a long time ago, and I try not to live in the past. You’ve got to move on, and I have,” Madden said.

When the feds offered Madden a deal similar to the one they gave Belfort, the shoe magnate refused to cooperate. As a result, Madden did 31 months in federal prison, nine months longer than Belfort’s stint behind bars.

Jake Hoffman plays Steve Madden’s character in “The Wolf of Wall Street”Getty Images

But unlike Belfort and every other real-life character in the movie, Madden had a great second act. The company he started with $1,100 out of the trunk of his car now has 3,000 employees. With stores throughout the US, and in 55 other countries, Madden is perhaps the most popular shoe designer in the world.

“We’ve done very well,” Madden said. “Our stock has gone up about 100 times. We started with a $20 million market cap, and now the company is worth more than $2.3 billion.”

A documentary on Madden, produced by former gossip columnist Mitchell Fink, has been shooting for six months. The director is Ben Patterson, who just finished “Sweet Micky for President,” a documentary about Michel Martelly, the musician known as “Sweet Micky,” who beat the odds and became the president of Haiti after the country was devastated by a 2010 earthquake.

While in prison, Madden fell in love with Wendy Ballew, an employee he corresponded with. They got married as soon as he got out and now have three kids.

“Not to get all Gandhi or anything, but I had to go through all that to get where I am now,” Madden said. “No regrets.”