Lawyer crying wolf over libel

A lawyer who claimed a sleazy, toupee-wearing criminal depicted in the film “The Wolf of Wall Street” is based on his working at the real-life disgraced brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont can’t sue because the filmmakers invented the character, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled Thursday.

The “libel in fiction” lawsuit held no “actual malice” because, among other things, the producers used fake names, made-up characters, and included in the film a disclaimer on the matter — twice, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The creators of the 2013 film — director Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions, Paramount Pictures among them — were accused in a 2014 lawsuit filed by lawyer Andrew Greene, who asserted that viewers would view him as a criminal who used drugs and partied with prostitutes.

The appeals court found that the makers of the film "took appropriate steps to ensure that no one would be defamed by the film," including how the screenwriter created composite characters and assigned fictitious names, according to the magazine.