UPDATE, DEC. 16 (2:30 p.m.): New York Magazine has acknowledged that the story is fake. The publication apologized and scrutinized its fact-checking process in a statement earlier today:
"We were duped. Our fact-checking process was obviously inadequate; we take full responsibility and we should have known better."
UPDATE, DEC. 16 (11 a.m.): The New York Observer exclusively talked to Mohammed Islam, and he admitted that the whole story is fabricated. Here is a partial transcription of the Observer report:
Observer: Is there ANY figure? Have you invested and made returns at all?
Islam: No.
Observer: So it's total fiction?
Islam: Yes.
UPDATE, DEC. 15 (5 p.m.): CNBC's Scott Hapner is reporting that Mohammed Islam does not know where the $72 million figure came from and that it is not true. "The way we were portrayed is not who were are," Islam said of the New York Magazine article.
Millennials seem to get a rough reputation these days.
Many new college graduates are forced to live at home post-graduation thanks to unimaginable student debt numbers, and the even younger generations are fixated on their smartphones. Overall, a lot of baby boomers and people from older generations frown upon today's younger people.
There is no reason to frown at the life New York teenager Mohammed Islam has put together for himself though. The 17-year-old Stuyvesant High School student, who is profiled in New York Magazine this week, is worth an estimated $72 million. With a net worth of somewhere in the "high eight figures," Islam rents an apartment in Midtown Manhattan and owns a BMW, despite still living in his parent's house and not being of age to drive a car.
He has made the millions by trading stocks on his lunch break. The son of Bengali immigrants from Queens, Islam, the president of his school's Investment Club, got started with penny stocks at age 11.
His cousin showed him how to trade, and, after losing money he earned tutoring, Islam came to the conclusion that he “didn’t have the balls for it.”
Before eventually trying his hand at trading again, Islam read up on finance, and became obsessed with the story of hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.
“I had been paralyzed by my loss,” Islam told New York Magazine. “But he (Paul Tudor Jones) was able to go back to it, even after losing thousands of dollars over and over. Paul Tudor Jones says, ‘You learn more from your losses than from your gains.’"
When he was ready to try again, Islam raised the stakes and got into trading oil and gold. The risk paid off. By age 16, he was getting recognized as a genius, as Business Insider included him in its "20 Under 20" list.
College is the next logical step for Islam, but he plans on launching a hedge fund this summer with his friends and business partners, Patrick Trablusi and Damir Tulemaganbetov.
Watch CNBC's report HERE:
