Bessent's Past Catches Up: Treasury Secretary's Currency Crisis Connection
Scott Bessent's career has been marked by monumental moves in global economics. Before founding his own hedge fund, Key Square Group, he made a killing as managing partner at Soros Fund Management's London office during the 1992 trade that broke the Bank of England.
Soros and Bessent took a massive position against the British pound, shorting it while borrowing up to $15 billion. The team believed the Bank of England was too weak to prop up its national currency against Germany's Deutschmark.
On 'Black Wednesday' in September 1992, their educated guess turned into a goldmine as the British pound faced immense selling pressure. Soros made roughly $1 billion in profit on this one position, earning him the famous nickname: 'The man who broke the Bank of England.'