Teenager makes millions stock market
Jessica Pressler wrote the profile of Mohammed Islam , a senior at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, for a feature called "Reasons to Love New York. After getting an advanced look at Pressler's piece, the New York Post put the improbable story on its Sunday front page.
By Monday morning, Islam's story was one of the hottest on Facebook. Then it fell apart. In an interview with the New York Observer published Monday night , Islam admitted that he fabricated the whole story and has never actually made a return on any investment.
Early Monday, CNBC's Josh Brown wondered if Islam was duping "an overly eager press willing to believe. Pressler, who will be joining a financial investigative unit at Bloomberg News early next year, takes exception to Brown's characterization.
In the New York Magazine story, Pressler wrote that the amount of money is "unbelievable," though she also said "as rumors go, this one seemed legit. She said Islam provided a bank statement to a New York magazine fact-checker, and that the teen does have "an obscene amount of money in his account.
Pressler said the problem stemmed from the story's original headline: Pressler said she didn't write it.
It has since been changed online to: His Hedge Fund Opens as Soon As He Turns Business Insider did its own reporting on Monday, eventually learning from an unnamed "source familiar with the story" that the figure was off the mark.
Islam's high school Investment Club told Business Insider it performed "due dilligence" and discovered that "these claims are false" and had been hyped by "the media in the interests of sensationalism.
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Islam then splashed cold water on the figure himself, telling CNBC on Monday that he doesn't even know who started the rumor. He also took issue with Pressler's write-up. In a statement to CNBC, New York Magazine defended Pressler's reporting, noting the headline change and the fact that the "story itself does not specify an amount.
It isn't hard to see why the story initially got so much attention. Pressler followed Islam and a pair of his friends around as they dined on caviar and fresh-squeezed apple juice.
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They spoke in reverential terms about the Koch brothers and the "Wolf of Wall Street," with Islam in the role of Jordan Belfort. It's just a different thing," she said. That's just not what happened. It can only happen in New York, these kids eating caviar, talking about how they're going to be the new Koch bothers.
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It seems like a uniquely New York milieu. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Pressler would lead an investigative unit at Bloomberg News when she joins the news service next year.
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