Apology for millionaire hoax

New York Magazine issued an apology Tuesday for an article about a high school student who claimed to have made tens of millions of dollars trading stocks that was revealed to have been a hoax.

The article, which was followed up around the world, including on the cover of The New York Post, appeared in the magazine’s “Reasons to Love New York” issue.

No. 12 on the list was: “Because a Stuyvesant senior made $72 million trading stocks on his lunch break.”

The Stuyvesant High School student, Mohammed Islam, 17, told the magazine that his net worth was in the “high eight figures.” But late Monday, The New York Observer published an interview with Islam and a friend, Damir Tulemaganbetov, 19, in which they admitted to making the whole thing up.

In its apology Tuesday, the magazine said it had been shown a document “that appeared to be a Chase bank statement attesting to an eight-figure bank account.”

Despite that, it said, it was simply duped.

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

The author of the article, Jessica Pressler, declined to comment.

— New York Times News Service