Judge Okays $50 Million Lawsuit Against “The Wolf Of Wall Street” Filed By Inspiration For Rugrat

El Taco10 years ago

A movie based on real-life, money-hungry characters is now being sued by one of those real-life, money hungry characters for a boat load of cash. Shocker.

The New York Daily News reports Andrew Greene is suing the makers of “The Wolf of Wall Street” for $50 million after he says the film portrayed him as a “criminal, drug user, degenerate, depraved and devoid of any morals or ethics.”

Greene, a Stratton Oakmont alum, says Nicky “Rugrat” Koskoff was clearly based off his image and likeness. Rugrat, like Greene, wears a toupee in the movie and is heavily mocked for it. Greene was also nicknamed “Wigwam” while at Stratton Oakmont so Koskoff’s “Rugrat” nickname adds to Greene’s claim. That’s basically where the obvious correlations stop though as Greene is never shown or mentioned by name in the movie.

Rugrat is a fairly minor character and the movie never digs too deep into his background. Still, we know he’s just as down as everyone else when it comes to making money, doing drugs, and banging sluts. Like you, I’m still searching for the part of this that is defamatory.

The suit was filed last year, but a Long Island judge just recently approved it. For Paramount to be guilty of “libel by fiction,” Greene has to prove people who know him would associate the Rugrat character with him.

Since the suit, Greene’s spoken out publicly on the movie and it sounds like his friendship with Jordan Belfort has completely deteriorated.

Paramount Pictures is calling bullshit on the whole deal though, and tried to get the case thrown out when it was first filed. The motion pictures studio says Rugrat is based off several different people. Even though it’s not a documentary, the film could also be protected under the First Amendment in this case since many of its depictions are true..

[via The New York Daily News]