Mohammed Islam: ‘My Parents Aren’t Speaking To Me’ Since $72 Million Hoax


Mohammed Islam, the New York high school kid who was said by a New York Magazine reporter to have earned $72 million by playing the stock market in his free time — an amazing feat that immediately gained 17-year-old “Mo” Islam worldwide media attention — now says that the estimate of his wealth was a little off — by $72 million.

But the “rumor” as Islam called it in a New York Observer interview Monday — some would call it a “hoax” — did not come without consequences. He now says that his parents no longer speak to him, and his father wants to kick him out of the family.

“Their morals are that if I lie about it and don’t own up to it then they can no longer trust me,” Islam told Observer reporter Ken Kurson. “They knew it was false and they basically wanted to kill me and I haven’t spoken to them since.”

Islam has now owned up to the lie — visibly trembling with nerves througout the interview, according to Kurson — along with his partner in crime, his pal Damir Tulemaganbetov.

His story, while it ran in publications arond the world, was also met with a degree of skepticism, including here on The Inquisitr.

But the youngster didn’t exactly just walk into the New York Observer office and confess. Mohammed Islam and his admitted co-conspirator Tulemaganbetov sat for the conversation with Kurson in the offices of a high-powered New York public relations firm, 5WPI.

And the original New York Magazine reporter who “broke” the story of Islam’s supposed $72 million Wall Street fortune now says that despite the teen’s confession, she has “confirmed” that Mohammed is worth at least $10 million.

“We saw a bank statement confirming the eight figures, & I’m comfortable with what’s in the piece,” she wrote on her Twitter account, which is now listed as “protected.”

Amazingly, Pressler recently departed New York Magazine and took a prestigious job with the financial investigative reporting team at Bloomberg News — a development which didn’t go over too well with some media watchers.

All New York Magazine and Pressler have “confirmed,” they say, is that Mohammed showed them bank documents that show his accounts in the “eight figure” range, which could mean anywhere from $10 million to $99,999,999. So where did Pressler come up with the $72 million number?

The Observer‘s Kurson asked Islam exactly that question.

“I don’t know,” Islam said. “The number’s a rumor.”

In fact, Mohammed Islam revealed to the Observer what he says is the true amount of money he has made from investing. “Zero,” he said.

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