It’s easy to forget amidst the numerous swearwords, all-star cast and award ceremonies that Jordan Belfort – played by the recently Globed Leonardo Dicaprio in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street – may lose his $1m rights payment to aide the remuneration of his victims.

Wolf of Wall StreetWolf of Wall Street is out this Friday (Jan 17) in the U.K

Belfort was convicted of money-laundering and securities fraud and served 22 months of a four-year sentence. He was bound to pay $110.4m to his victims, but has only paid $11.6m, according to federal prosecutors, meaning his fee - or at least a portion of it - could be seized.

The film has been widely criticised for its portrayal of Belfort’s activities, with many suggesting that – like gangster films – it glorifies the criminal activity that drives the plot from A to B.

DiCaprio has defended the film as a "cautionary tale", saying: "I hope people understand we're not condoning this behaviour, that we're indicting it," he told Variety last month. "The book was a cautionary tale and if you sit through the end of the film, you'll realise what we're saying about these people and this world, because it's an intoxicating one."

‘Wolf’ has also been condemned for the use of a live chimpanzee on roller skates, with an animal rights group calling for people to boycott the film. "When The Wolf of Wall Street premieres in NYC on 17 December, there is sure to [be] buzz about whether or not Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays real life law-breaking stockbroker Jordan Belfort, will get an Oscar nod," writes the group in a statement.

"But what likely won't be talked about is one of DiCaprio's co-stars, a chimpanzee named Chance who portrays his character's pet, and the long-term damage that is done to primates exploited in entertainment."