As people learn more about Donald Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, one story comes up over and over: a legendary trade that he played a small part in while he worked at George Soros' hedge fund in the 1990s. In 1992, Soros' fund set its sights on the British pound, betting that some time in the fall of that year, the pound would plummet in value. Opposing them in this trade was the Bank of England, which was determined to keep its currency stable. The financial battle that followed was intense and proved to be a watershed moment in the balance of power between markets and governments.On today's show, we speak to Robert Johnson, a former managing director at Soros' fund, for a blow-by-blow account of those fateful days in 1992. This episode was hosted by Keith Romer and Alex Goldmark. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Martina Castro. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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In the recent flurry of cabinet nominations Donald Trump has been proposing, one name stood out to us, Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary Scott Besant.
And that's because Scott Besson has worked in finance for decades, including for George Soros' hedge fund back in the 1990s. And it just so happens that when the announcement came out, we were most of the way through making an episode about George Soros' hedge fund back in the 1990s.
Our show about something that happened three decades ago turned out to be way more topical than we thought it would be. What we made is not exactly the Scott Besson origin story, but, you know, come for the Treasury Secretary backgrounder. Stick around for the epic finance story.
Or just come for the epic finance story.
Either way, here is the show.
This is Planet Money from NPR.
The name George Soros means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some folks, he is primarily known as a philanthropist for his support of human rights and democracy around the world. Here is Soros on Fresh Air in 2006 talking about the foundations he funds.
Basically, the function is to support civil society in holding governments accountable.
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