Hoaxer, 29, who fooled CNN with false 'NYSE has flooded' tweet during Superstorm Sandy is outed as WALL STREET ANALYST



Shashank Tripathi posted rogue tweet as Sandy hit NYC on Monday night

Was campaign manager for GOP New York candidate Christopher Wight

Resigned after being outed and posted apology for 'irresponsible tweets'

Threatened with prosecution by New York City Councilman Peter Vallone

Politician said tweet could compare to shouting 'Fire!' in crowded theatre



I'm sorry: Shashank Tripathi has now apologised and resigned from the Congressional campaign for Republican candidate Christopher Wight

The rogue Twitter user who falsely claimed during Superstorm Sandy that the New York Stock Exchange was flooded under more than 3ft of water has been unmasked as a Wall Street analyst and political campaign manager.



Shashank Tripathi, 29, has now apologised and resigned from the campaign for Republican candidate Christopher Wight to represent New York's 12th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives.

He was even threatened with prosecution by New York City Councilman Peter Vallone, who said the tweets could be the digital equivalent of shouting ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theatre.

The tweet - ‘BREAKING: Confirmed flooding on NYSE. The trading floor is flooded under more than 3 feet of water’ - was picked up by the National Weather Service and even CNN.

It was retweeted more than 600 times.



But an NYSE spokesman told ABC: 'It is false. Weather Channel issued an egregiously false report. There is no water in our building.'

Responses to his tweet included: ‘that's bulls**t’, ‘What are the sources for your links?’, ‘confirmed by whom?’ and ‘you are a liar’. Mr Tripathi then posted an hour later: ‘NYSE DID NOT FLOOD’.

The analyst - who used the Twitter name @comfortablysmug - was outed by the website BuzzFeed , which compared photos censored and posted on the account to unedited versions found elsewhere.

Rogue: The tweet was picked up by the National Weather Service, the Weather Channel and CNN

Time to say sorry: Mr Tripathi did not comment to BuzzFeed or Reuters, but posted this apology on Twitter

Mr Tripathi - who has been a vocal supporter of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney - has been paid thousands of dollars by Mr Wight as a consultant, Federal Election Commission papers show.

He wrote a sex diary for New York Magazine, which then interviewed him in 2009. Pictured with his face hidden, he said: ‘I’m not as blatantly an a**hole in person, but I still have a**hole tendencies.’

'I’m not as blatantly an a**hole in person, but I still have a**hole tendencies' Shashank Tripathi, interviewed in 2009

Mr Tripathi did not comment to BuzzFeed or Reuters, but posted an apology on Twitter saying: ‘I wish to offer the people of New York a sincere, humble and unconditional apology.’

The Twitter user, who had posted various other false tweets in the past, added: ‘During a natural disaster that threatened the entire city, I made a series of irresponsible and inaccurate tweets.

‘While some would use the anonymity and instant feedback of social media as an excuse, I take full responsibility for my actions. I deeply regret any distress or harm they may have caused.’

Republican candidate: Christopher Wight is hoping to represent New York's 12th District in the US House of Representatives, and said he was 'shocked and disgusted by the actions of my former campaign manager'

Mr Tripathi added that he has immediately resigned from Mr Wight's campaign but believes the candidate has 'the ideas, philosophy and leadership skills to make New York a better place'.

'I hope the fact that I'm asking for criminal charges to be seriously considered will make him much less comfortable and much less smug' New York City Councilman Peter Vallone

Mr Wight said yesterday in a powerful statement that he was ‘reeling from the shock of Hurricane Sandy’s destruction’ and ‘shocked and disgusted by the actions of my former campaign manager’.

He added: ‘His actions were all the more distressing, occurring as they did, in the midst of Monday’s disastrous weather - during a time when no one was truly safe.

‘I learned from online reports yesterday (Tuesday), just as others did, that Shashank had been spreading false information from a personal and anonymous Twitter account.



Sandbags: The New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan was closed as Superstorm Sandy hit the US East Coast Devastation: Homes sit in ruin after being destroyed by Superstorm Sandy in Seaside Heights, New Jersey

‘While he had been with my campaign for seven months, I had no indication that he was capable of the type of behaviour he exhibited.



'We don't moderate content, and we certainly don't want to be in a position of deciding what speech is OK and what speech is not' Twitter spokesman

'I immediately accepted Shashank’s resignation and I have named (my former chief of staff) Nick Mackey as my new campaign manager.’

Twitter said it would not consider suspending Mr Tripathi’s account unless it received a request from a law enforcement agency.

A Twitter spokesman said: ‘We don't moderate content, and we certainly don't want to be in a position of deciding what speech is OK and what speech is not.’