Twitter user @ComfortablySmug apologizes for Sandy hoax As Superstorm Sandy was pummeling the U.S. East Coast Monday night, people were sending real-time updates through social media sites, giving observers around the world a window into the chaos. But one man sent out several false breaking news alerts that perpetuated a ripple effect of misinformation. Twitter user @ComfortablySmug sent out inaccurate tweets of events on the ground in New York City Monday night. But the one that got the most attention was a claim that the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange was under more than 3 feet of water. The claims may not have been initiated by @ComfortablySmug, but the report was re-tweeted several hundred times. BuzzFeed has reported the identity of @ComfortablySmug as 29-year-old hedge fund analyst Shashank Tripathi. According to BuzzFeed, Tripathi penned several comments on NYMag.com, and even wrote a candid sex diary entry on the website under the same Twitter handle. Tripathi was also the campaign manager for Christopher R. Wight, a Republican candidate for New York's 12th Congressional District. In a tweet posted to his Twitter followers Wednesday, Tripathi apologized for making a series of "irresponsible and inaccurate tweets." He also reported that he has resigned from Wight's campaign. Read Tripathi's tweets below. <a href="http://storify.com/CBSSciTech/twitter-user-comfortablysmug-apologizes-for-sandy" target="_blank">View the story "Twitter user @ComfortablySmug apologizes for Sandy hoax " on Storify</a> Tripathi has not sent out a tweet since.