• Jordan Belfort founded Stratton Oakmont, a brokerage firm that focused on selling very risky penny stocks—stocks selling at very low prices—to investors. Belfort encouraged his brokers to use high-pressure tactics to sell the stocks. Belfort paid his brokers handsomely, with commissions reaching 25 percent of the purchase price. As a result, many Stratton Oakmont brokers were able to improve their lives and support their families. Many of the stocks peddled by the brokers were investments in small companies with little chance of becoming profitable. Some of the investors were pressured into buying more stock than they should have purchased, considering their levels of wealth and other security holdings. The investors could have insisted on receiving more information about the stocks before purchasing them. However, the investors’ desires to make a large, quick profit deterred them from taking steps to protect themselves. Assess the ethical behavior of both the brokers and the investors. Provide your own interpretation of the behavior, was it ethical or not? Explain why.