New York magazine story on teenage investor unravels

Kate Taylor of the New York Times writes about how a New York magazine article on a teenage investor who allegedly made $72 million turned out to be false.

Taylor writes, “It started to fall apart on Monday when CNBC invited Mr. Islam and one of his friends, Damir Tulemaganbetov, who was described in the article as the son of a Kazakh oligarch, for an appearance. As CNBC later reported online, the network canceled their appearance after the pre-interview.

“CNBC quoted Mr. Islam as saying that the $72 million figure was not accurate and suggested that he had made only a few million dollars, though it said that he declined to be specific.

“But in an interview published Monday evening in The New York Observer, Mr. Islam and Mr. Tulemaganbetov said that they had made the whole thing up, and that Mr. Islam had not made any money in stock trades.

” Mr. Islam said his parents were furious and that he spent Sunday night at a friend’s house. They both apologized.

“’The people I’m most sorry for is my parents,’ Mr. Islam told The Observer. ‘I did something where I can no longer gain their trust.’

“Earlier Monday, the writer of the magazine piece, Jessica Pressler, defended her work on Twitter, saying that she had seen a bank statement showing an account balance with eight figures.”

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