Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2014, as a news follow-up on a viral stock-market hoax, and describes events as they stood then.
Within 24 hours, media outlets all over the world picked up the story of the new teenage Wolf of Wall Street who had supposedly made 72 million on the stock market trading stocks and futures during his high school lunch hour. Surprisingly, the media published the story without questioning whether it was true, even though, as we pointed out in our previous article, the story made no sense whatsoever.
But Business Insider wanted to get to the bottom of it. A source familiar with the story told them that the 17-year-old student has not made 72 million, nor even anything close to that figure, and that the whole thing was a rumour the young man did not deny and that the media echoed without a single shred of evidence that it was true.
Only one journalist says she has seen his eight-figure bank account. However, in a phone interview with Business Insider, one of the young Wolf’s “partners” and friends said that the 72 million figure was not entirely accurate. Even so, Damir says the student is a genius and a great trader.
Business Insider says it tried to speak to the young man, but he declined to talk to the publication and also refused to provide audited figures to confirm the claims.
The publication itself stated that, after doing its due diligence on the case, it had concluded that the claims were false and had only spread through the media because of the desire to create a sensational story.
In other words, nobody knows how much this young “prodigy” has made or lost on the stock market. But I insist: I find it very sad that the media went about republishing this story without ever questioning how surreal it was.
Further update: CNN has confirmed that the story was a hoax.
Not only did the 17-year-old student not make 72 million on the stock market, he never actually invested in the stock market at all. The young man broke down in an interview with the New York Observer and admitted that he had made up the whole story himself.
The media took care of the rest, fooled easily because they were eager to believe a story like this. Ironically, though, people did come forward wanting to put up to 150 million dollars under management in the hedge fund these young men said they were going to open next year.
As someone I know would say: “It would simply be sad if the whole affair weren’t so utterly pathetic.”
Featured image: Sue Clark, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
