While some scratched their heads and wondered how a 17 year old high school student Mohammed Islam was able to ratchet up $72 million in trading profits the truth was the teen never made anywhere near that money to begin with. Why? Cause it was all a charade.
Mohammed Islam, teen wolf of Wall st. Schoolboy makes $72 million trading stocks.
In an exclusive with the nyobserver Mohammed Islam who for at least the weekend had become the teen Wolf of Wall st comes clean along with trading pal Damir Tulemaganbetov to admit that in fact they didn’t make a dime. Which is to say they made the whole thing up. Ouch!
Deep sigh of relief for your seasoned hedge fund manager who must have been wondering what they were doing wrong whilst an anonymous Stuyvesant High school student was raking in colossal profits during his school lunch break. Indeed.
Reports the observer: Speaking at the offices of their newly hired crisis pr firm, 5WPR and handled by a phalanx of four including the lawyer Ed Mermelstein of RheemBell&Mermelsein, Mr. Islam told a story that will be familiar to just about any 12th grader—a fib turns into a lie turns into a rumor turns into a bunch of mainstream media stories and invitations to appear on CNBC.
Hmm seems we’ve heard that script somewhere before. But welcome to new media where nothing gets fact checked anymore and the real prize is being the first out the gate and topping search engines with the most scintillating headline and hoping the story sticks and of course every other media company follows suit and links back to you. If you can understand that you can understand how a 17 year old teen out foxed not the stock market but the media itself which is suppose to keep the world honest. Sort of.
In the end we find out that it was merely simulated trading (and who can’t make a billion dollars when it comes to simulated back seat trading?) and that the young new Wolf of Wall st is halfway towards being disowned by his very own father. Maybe if the young man ends up making a paltry $10K or so in the next few years or so during school vacations his father might take him back. But will you take back the media for being such buffoons?
