New York Magazine duped by 17-year-old who “made” $72million from stocks

New York magazine had published a story, celebrating a 17-year-old high school student, Mohammed Islam, who claimed he made $72million from stock trading. 

The story trended massively on Facebook. It was headlined: "Because a Stuyvesant Senior Made $72 Million Trading Stocks on His Lunch Break.", a part of an issue titled “Reasons to Love New York”

But now, it has been realized that the dude was a dupe. He lied!

Editors of the magazine have now come out to apologise, saying they were misled. They said in a statement on their website:

“We were duped. Our fact-checking process was obviously inadequate; we take full responsibility and we should have known better.

Islam confessed that he lied during an interview with the New York Observer on Monday evening after cancelling one with CNBC that afternoon . He told New York Observer that he did not make a penny from stocks not to talk of millions!

It was gathered that he was just a member of Stuyvesant High School’s investing club who made simulated investments without putting any cash on the line. 

Islam with his friend, Damir Tulemaganbetov

This is how Islam’s lies were exposed, according to Huffington Post:

First, a youth investment club to which Islam belonged put out a statement saying that “after performing due diligence and talking with Mohammed Islam himself, we have determined that these claims are false.”  

Then Islam’s friend Damir Tulemaganbetov confirmed to Business Insider’s Julia La Roche that the $72 million figure was just “a rumor” but refused to provide specific numbers or documents detailing Islam’s trading gains. 

Finally, late Monday evening, in an interview with the New York Observer, Islam admitted that his story of precocious stock-picking talent was a complete hoax. He never made any money trading, let alone millions of dollars.

The rest of the story was partially a rumor he helped perpetuate and an outright fraud he cooked up by showing New York magazine’s Jessica Pressler fabricated financial statements.