Twitter troll who made false claims about storm a Republican adviser
Campaign manager resigns after making inflammatory claims about storm damage
A Twitter troll who became an online villain after posting false tweets about the destruction of Hurricane Sandy has been identified as the campaign manager of a Republican congressional candidate.
Shahank Tripathi, 29, apologised and resigned from the campaign of New York candidate Christopher Wright.
The Twitterati had heaped criticism on the Twitter user known as ComfortablySmug after the microblogger claimed the New York Stock Exchange was flooded and that Con Edison was shutting off all power to New York City during the storm.
Both "breaking" news posts were refuted by authorities, but not before being retweeted hundreds of times, causing panic.
After going silent for several hours, on Tuesday night ComfortablySmug offered "the people of New York a sincere, humble and unconditional apology".
"During a natural disaster that threatened the entire city, I made a series of irresponsible and inaccurate tweets," the user wrote. "While some would use the anonymity and instant feedback of social media as an excuse, I take full responsibility for my actions."