Story of the $72 million teen trader unravels..."A Stuyvesant High School Senior made $72 million trading stocks on his lunch break."

 By Tom Kludt   @CNNMoney December 15, 2014: 9:36 PM ET

It didn't take long for New York Magazine's story on a 17-year-old stock whiz with a rumored net worth of $72 million to make a splash. But the story's juicy premise unraveled almost as quickly.

17 y-o Mohammed Islam

Jessica Pressler wrote the profile of Mohammed Islam, a senior at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, for a feature called "Reasons to Love New York." After getting an advanced look at Pressler's piece, theNew York Post put the improbable story on its Sunday front page. By Monday morning, Islam's story was one of the hottest on Facebook.

Then it fell apart. In an interview with the New York Observer published Monday night, Islam admitted that he fabricated the whole story and has never actually made a return on any investment. "So it's total fiction?" asked the Observer. "Yes," Islam said. (updated)

Early Monday, CNBC's Josh Brown wondered if Islam was duping "an overly eager press willing to believe."Pressler, who will be heading to Bloomberg News next year to lead a financial investigative unit, takes exception to Brown's characterization.

"I still think the piece is skeptical enough," she told CNNMoney early Monday afternoon. "The story says, 'This is a rumor and draw your own conclusions.'" more