Scott Bessent helped George Soros net $1 billion breaking the Bank of England — now he's fighting a U.S. bond selloff

Scott Bessent helped George Soros net $1 billion breaking the Bank of England — now he's fighting a U.S. bond selloff

Eric Esposito

Sun, September 20, 2026 at 4:00 PM GMT+3 5 min read

Scott Bessent's face is all over financial news nowadays. From $6 billion bond buybacks to tinkering in global currency markets, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury has certainly been pulling all the stops to stem the ongoing bond selloff.

While Bessent has never been more influential in macroeconomics, it isn't the first time he's made monumental moves in the global economy. Before founding his own hedge fund, Key Square Group, Bessent made a killing bringing down one of Europe's biggest banks — all the while enriching one of the Democratic Party's megadonors: George Soros.

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Bessent started his career with Soros in the 1990s as managing partner at Soros Fund Management's London office. During this time, Soros, Bessent and Stanley Druckenmiller took a massive position against the British pound.

In 1992, the team at Soros Fund Management thought that the Bank of England was too weak to prop up its national currency against Germany's Deutschmark. At that time, the U.K. was languishing in a recession, but the recently reunified German economy was booming.

Soros's fund had about $5 billion in assets under management and he felt super confident that the British pound would plummet. As NPR reported, Soros allowed his team to borrow funds up to $15 billion to magnify their short position.

Firm managers like Bessent steadily increased their position as the economic situation became increasingly dire for the U.K. Then, on September 16 — a date now called "Black Wednesday" — their educated guess turned into a goldmine as the British pound faced immense selling pressure.

According to Fortune, Soros made roughly $1 billion in profit on this one position, earning a famous nickname in financial circles: "The man who broke the Bank of England."

​Are Bessent and Soros still talking?

During Bessent's time with Soros, he eventually rose to the C-suite, becoming chief investment officer (CIO) of the famed hedge fund. Interestingly, Bessent was also instrumental in another huge trade in the forex market, this one against the Japanese yen. As The Guardian reported, this trade brought in roughly $1.2 billion to Soros's already impressive profits.

​Soros later helped Bessent take off on his own, reportedly sending $2 billion to Key Square Group, according to The New York Times.

​But recent reports suggest the two aren't on the friendliest of terms.

​Even though Soros is a legend for cashing in on currency crises, he's far better known to the American public for giving large sums to Democratic candidates and other left-leaning causes. According to his philanthropic network, the Open Society Foundations, Soros has donated $32 billion since 1984.

​Newsweek reported that Bessent had once supported Democrats as well. That changed around 2016, when he began donating more and more to conservative causes and candidates, including President Donald Trump.

​Details from The New York Times suggest the two former colleagues aren't speaking today. In fact, just two years after sending the $2 billion to Key Square, Soros apparently told Bessent to send the funds back.

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​From shorting currencies to buying bonds

​The irony today is that the man tasked with reassuring the world about the government's stability has most of his experience profiting from collapsing economies.

​This July, Bessent led an effort to strengthen the Japanese yen — the very currency he shorted over a decade before to net Soros $1.2 billion in gains.

​All these interventions have the same goal: staving off the selloff in U.S. bonds. According to Treasury data, Japan holds the most U.S. debt, making it a crucial nation to support in this turbulent environment.

​Speaking at Southern Methodist University, Bessent railed against fear-mongering over his initiatives and the rising rates in the bond market. As The New York Times reported, Bessent addressed jittery bond investors, claiming, "I am not saying I'm always right, don't challenge me, but I am trying to say that I have superior information and that I am trying to create good framing, so they don't panic."

​Despite all of Bessent's recent assurances, there are still more sellers than buyers of U.S. bonds. Rates for long-dated bonds like the 30-year and 20-year remain at multi-year highs.​

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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Scott Bessent helped George Soros net $1 billion breaking the Bank of England — now he's fighting a U.S. bond selloff

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