DiCaprio Ordered To Court Over Wolf Of Wall Street Lawsuit

Leonardo DiCaprio has been ordered to appear in court in a defamation lawsuit brought by one of the former employees of the real-life firm depicted in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’.

DiCaprio was hoping to avoid having to testify in the case, but according to The Hollywood Reporter magistrate judge Steven Locke has ordered that the actor appears 'at a reasonable time and place agreed to by the parties’.

- Kevin Spacey given honorary knighthood
- Wicked heading to the big screen
- Melissa McCarthy Slams Ghostbusters Haters

Bringing the case to court is Andrew Greene, who worked at Stratton Oakmont, the brokerage firm which defrauded millions of dollars from its shareholders, and was founded by Jordan Belfort, as played by DiCaprio in the 2013 Martin Scorsese movie.

Greene claims that he was portrayed in the film as Nicky 'Rugrat’ Koskof, a 'criminal’ and 'degenerate’ who wears a toupee, and is mostly depicted face-down in drugs and prostitutes in the movie.

He alleges that the filmmakers changed his nickname initially from 'Wigwam’ to 'Rugrat’ and the he has been maliciously libelled.

In the movie, Koskof is played by P.J. Byrne, and is the subject of the line 'Swear to God, I want to choke him to death’, uttered by DiCaprio’s Belfort.

Green says that his reputation has been damaged to the tune of $15 million (around £10.4 million).

Scorsese and Terrence Winter, the 'Sopranos’ scribe who wrote the movie, have already given their depositions in the case.

It was previously argued by DiCaprio’s legal reps that as he did not portray the character, nor write the screenplay, that hearing his testimony would be unnecessary.

But the judge has now ruled that he will have to appear, likely due to DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way being involved in the project from an early stage.

Image credits: Universal/AP