It’s not often that arch media cynic Paul Barry gives accolades to a radio breakfast crew. But on last night’s episode of Media Watch he praised Sydney’s Triple M Grill Team for getting stuck into Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street, who was in Australia to promote his tour of speaking engagements tipped to net him millions of dollars.

The nod to the Grill Team made up of Gus Worland, Matty Johns and Mark Geyer, was part of a segment exploring why the media often treats convicted criminals like Roger Rogerson and Jordan Belfort like movie stars rather than the crooks that they are.

Barry gave several examples of how Belfort, who has been ordered to repay victims of his share trading scams some $110 million, has been feted around Australian by sections of media. But he singled out Liz Hayes interview on 60 Minutes where she confronted ‘The Wolf’ about him allegedly underreporting his  earnings from massive book sales, movie rights and speaking engagements to avoid repaying his victims as per a deal struck with the American IRS.

Barry then went on to praise the radio breakfast crew saying, “Triple M’s Grill Team went one step further and did what they all should have done in the first place.

 Get the Wolf to talk to one of the lambs he had mauled—an investor who lost $60,000.”


 
“GUS WORLAND: … we’ve got Ken Minor the victim on the line from California , so you –
 
JORDAN BELFORT: If you, if you’re, if you’re here to do a hatchet job on me, I have a lot of interviews to do, so I’m more than happy to –
 
JORDAN BELFORT’S MINDER: We, no we, we need to wrap this up.
 
— Triple M, The Grill Team, 23rd May, 2014


“The confrontation didn’t get far before Belfort and his minder bailed out again,” said Barry. 
“But at least we didn’t have to swallow more self-serving pap from a conman who’s now making millions teaching people the art of selling and also—wait for it—lecturing audiences on ethics in business.”