Mohammed Islam is the high-school kid who–as reported by New York magazine–made $72 million trading stocks on his lunch break. Except now it seems that Mohammed Islam did not make that much money. In fact, New York magazine is starting to do some serious backpedaling now that the story has gone national.
Mohammed originally made it into New York magazine as part of the “Reasons to Love New York” issue, as profiled by reported Jessica Pressler. To her credit, Pressler began the article by saying that the $72 million was just a rumor. That didn’t stop the New York editors from pushing the dollar figure. Check out how the New York online posting looks now: “Because a Stuyvesant Senior Made Millions Picking Stocks. His Hedge Fund Opens as Soon As He Turns 18.”
Now look to the right to see the original headline that they can’t scrape: “Because a Stuyvesant Senior Made $72 Million Trading Stocks on His Lunch Break.” Whoops.
We’re not saying that we wouldn’t invest with Mohammed Islam. The guy seems to be seriously talented, but that $72 million figure is up for some serious scrutiny. [UPDATE: Mohammed officially goes on the record about conning the gullible New York staff. Even that revised headline is a lie.] And don’t let Pressler off the hook too easily. She’s already blaming her editors, but she sent out the Tweet below to push the article. It’s like you can’t believe anything you read nowadays…
