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Guess Who Reportedly Made $1B+ Betting Against the Yen

Feb. 14, 2013 7:45pm Becket Adams

Billionaire Philanthropist and Liberal Activist George Soros Scores Big Betting Against Yen

George Soros, founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 25, 2013. (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg).

Has he struck it rich (again)?

Billionaire philanthropist and liberal activist George Soros has reportedly made $1 billion since November 2012 by betting against the Japanese yen, Bloomberg reports.

“The Japanese wager helped the firm return about 10 percent last year and 5 percent so far this year, said the person,” the report notes, citing a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity

“The yen has weakened 17 percent versus the dollar since about the start of the fourth quarter, the worst performance over a similar period since 1985,” the report adds.

If this report is accurate, it means Soros has once against benefited from the fall of a currency (see “Black Wednesday”).

Bloomberg’s source also claims Scott Bessent, chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management LLC, has about 10 percent of the firm’s portfolio betting on rising shares in Japan.

“Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index has jumped about 28 percent since the end of September,” the report notes.

“Michael Vachon, a spokesman for the firm, said he couldn’t comment on the trades,” the report ads.

But let’s back up for a minute, okay?

First, it’s important to note that the Japanese government is largely responsible for the rapid devaluation of the yen.

Now we’re not alone when we say government intervention can lead to a decline in currency values. In fact, finance ministers representing the G-7 (the seven economic powers of the world) on Tuesday spoke on this exact topic, warning that exchange rates should be driven by the market — not government or central bank policies.

So let’s recap: Japan’s government is depressing the yen with stimulus (such as bond-buying programs); Soros is betting against it; Soros is reportedly winning big.

Okay, now let’s rewind to last year when the noted market speculator repeatedly insisted that the European Union form a single body to control every bank in the 27-state union.

“The situation remains very serious, as related to the sovereign debt crisis. Bank recapitalization should continue, and that the European Stability Mechanism may be useful,” Soros said in an interview with Le Monde.

“It is especially important to introduce a real European control over banks, because there are too many incestuous relationships between banks and national governments. Particularly in France, with the ‘financial inspectors,’” he added.

Soros’ suggested banking union would presumably have the power to intervene to depress the euro. Considering the popularity of quantitative easing (i.e. money printing), it probably would. However, as noted by the G-7 finance ministers, this sort of action — though popular with certain governments — can cause serious damage to the value of a nation’s currency.

Surely, Soros is enough of a market pro to understand this. Is there a particular reason he’s so big on the idea?

Getty Images

Lastly, remember Bessent (Soros Fund Management’s CIO)? Consider the following:

Bessent worked for Soros in 1992 when Soros and his chief strategist Stan Druckenmiller made a $10 billion bet that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue the pound. That wager netted $1 billion. At the time Soros’s Quantum fund was $3.3 billion.

Bessent left the firm in 2000, and returned to be CIO in 2011.

We’ll leave you with this Soros quote from June 2012: “I am now retired, and my Quantum fund has no position in euro. But until there is no change among European leaders, if I were to invest, I would bet against the euro. Or at least, I’d bet on it.”

–

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Featured image courtesy Getty Images. This post has been updated.

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Comments (58)

lamarlamar
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:38am
….till me again, who bankrolled ‘bama?

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CHROME_PLATED_HEART
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 10:07am
I must be psychic…dang. Lottery time tonight. )

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ktmrider1
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 9:05am
I’ll bet this hypocrite is still paying a 16% tax rate while saying everyone else needs to pay more taxes

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GuruMeditation
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 6:42am
Say it ain’t so.

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Apple Bite
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 4:24am
If there was one person in this world to send straight to hell, he’s #1 on the list for me.

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swornsongs
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:23am
SPOOOOOOOKY DUUUUUUUDE is at it again!

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- Thatsitivehadenough
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 2:31am
  Does he ever stop? I’d just love it if he’d have a stroke and couldn’t speak or move again. Just sit there an not be able to destroy countries any more.
  
  Report this comment
servant100
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 11:34pm
George Soros has never “bet” on anything in his life. Betting on a freefall decline in a currency is just about the most risky investment decision you can take. UNLESS you rig the deck by stacking the government devaluating the currency with your picked political whores…that will not only do anything you tell them to do…but give you advanced warning of when they are going to get that currency devalued. Soros has refined this kind of insider…insider trading into a fine art. Yes it’s illegal and utterly immoral…but when you OWN the people running the country…then you can get away with ANYTHING… So Soros has found the perfect way of “legal Cheating..” insider trading writ large. He has made his billions upon billions upon exactly this type of Currency devaluation freefall….and his dirty little secret is that this is really his vehicle for RAIDING…or LOOTING the valuation of all the fixed investments of the poor and elderly..in that freefall declining market…and funneling that value differential into his personal bank account.

Thus, GEORGE SOROS is the worst kind of utterly heartless dispicable mobster….who raises up, trains, emposers, and supports talking head political nincompoops like Barak Obama…whose sole role is to deliver the Soros machine speech…and give Soros enough advanced warning…so that this monster can make yet another billion off the backs of the poor and elderly/

And you FOOLS reelected these monsters…you reap what you

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- barber2
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:07am
  Agree, When the ignorant and the dysfunctional vote and the opposite don’t , you get Obama II …
  
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vorpal
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:08pm
he could use that dough for his cancer treatment but he has plenty – he should give it ALL to the US treasury – I mean it would only be him paying his fair share…just saying

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semihardrock
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:57pm
Feb 14 (Reuters) – Officials in Alabama’s bankrupt Jefferson County approved a deal on Thursday with European Depfa Bank Plc to cut interest charges on about $162 million of the county’s school debt.

Reuters WONT LET ME POST my “shared feelings”

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Packers13
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:40pm
the MSM will ignore this also as they know it is all about the evil people at Wall Street that are the greedy ones. I guarantold you that Soros will avoid most taxes on this profit…

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- RIDEMODELS
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:05pm
  The MSM only cares about Obama and his old Tax loving cronies…….The reason Obama loves this man so much is because he has a company where sexual harassment laws are forbidden and there is no such lawsuits…….Women in America better wake the Hell up…!!
  
  Tell me this to all the women out there…….Do you think that you can file a sexual harassment charge in a strip club……Nope….Not ever gonna happen….The End.
  
  Report this comment
DEFCON4
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:18pm
George $orrows is his name.
Destroying tommorrow is his game.

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- FloraBelleza
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:26pm
  They all worker to China and with Russia to destroy others nations. Just asked Hillary.
  
  Report this comment
Thundergod
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:17pm
People like Soros is why you never give up your right to own a ninja death squad.

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- RIDEMODELS
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:09pm
  Awesome….This is why Beck Bloggers need to have comedy jobs……Honestly you cannot find this anywhere else.
  
  To all women out there…..Do you ever think you could file a sexual harassment charge inside a strip club..??…..NOPE…..Never…!!……But you can in an “EVIL” corporation…..Women still are totally duped by this liberal crap..??…..You can put chocolate on a turd and it will still be a burnt black turd..!!
  
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- vorpal
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:09pm
  I did this
  
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Keatonc333
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:11pm
HAHA! if they switched the name george Soros with lets say Rupert Murdoch you would all be praising his intelligence and business savvy!

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- barber2
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:17pm
  333: No, Troll dude , it is not the names . It is the ideology. Big difference.
  
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- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:27pm
  KEATONC333
  
  stupid drone, Soros makes his billions on the misery created by currency devaluation that SOROS helps facilitate.
  
  His strategy is to encourage Government debt and then betting on the currency devaluation that must follow, who pays the price, the poor and middle class get their wealth destroyed through inflation, and an Open Society for Soros is one that he manipulates.
  
  Modern liberal are modern “useful idiots”
  
  Report this comment
Sharon Rose
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:09pm
Has he bet against the $$$$ yet?

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- barber2
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:18pm
  Well, am sure Obama is doing his ground work !
  
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WINNEBAGOMAN
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:00pm
Is George Soros Satan on Earth? His strength and influence grows with misery and destruction of real people’s dreams.

I so hope there is a Heaven, because then I’m certain there is a Hell. George Soros will be caste into the latter.

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- RIDEMODELS
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 11:58pm
  Sorros is nothing more than a pedophile…..nothing more and he will rot for eternity in the pits of Hell…If he ever wonders what hell is like, he only needs to understand what it takes to be a billionaire like himself and all the misery he causes….I only wish it were him and not Bin-Laden that the Seals wacked…..Hes nothing more than a slum lord to the masses.
  
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bekhiet1
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:58pm
I’m sure he didn’t have ANY inside information in regards to that….right? Is there something illegal going on here.

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rsanchez1
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:33pm
Not content breaking the Bank of England, Soros now wants to deal a blow to the capitalist system that made him rich by forcing Japan to start a currency war.

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- Walkabout
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:59pm
  I hate Soros. That said, this is not his fault. He just knows how markets work. The government of Japan American Democrats, Obama do not. They are the ones devaluing currencies by printing money & other means not Soros.
  
  If Soros had never been born, some one or some group of people would have been $1 Billion dollars richer from currency trades made possible by the Japanese government mismanagement.
  
  Report this comment
- UNALIEN
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:29pm
  capitalism didn’t make Soros rich cronyism did, also called fasism
  
  Report this comment
dontcensorme
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:21pm
When it all falls down thanks to Obama & Soros, find the closest Liberal and thank each one of them personally for giving US what we need to get things done.

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- rsanchez1
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:37pm
  To get what things done, the enslavement of Americans?
  
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- Keatonc333
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:11pm
  sounds fair… by the way Thank you for the iraq war and all those dead US soldiers!
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:26pm
  Keats
  
  Iraq was a good war. We did a lot of good. We kicked a lot of Al Qaeda a$$. Women voted. A dictator who did not live up to the 1991 armistice was retired.
  
  What part don’t you like?
  
  -The Women voting?
  - Dictator being retired for violating an armistice? Would you be upset if we retired a North Korean dictator for the same thing?
  - Upset with Al Qaeda being kicked around in Iraq?
  -Are you upset that thew Sunnis started allying themselves with us (Sunni Awakening?)
  
  I know Keats secretly loved the reports of AL Qaeda car bombs blowing up women & children at outdoor shopping markets. Reports of Sharia law in Mali does not bring Keats to the same high point. ;)
  
  Report this comment
- Thundergod
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:29pm
  your still whining about Bush and Iraq? If I remember correctly, the decision to invade Iraq had bipartisan support. Obama wasted all those lives by walking away from the progess they sacrificed their lives for.
  
  Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:20pm
Didn’t Al Pacino play his character in The Devil’s Advocate?

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- nomemymine
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:28pm
  Will watch the movie. Thanks. There is a movie called, “Lawless.” That one shows the Chicago Way. Really good.
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:41pm
  NOMEMYMINE, It was an entertaining movie with Al Pacino, and Keanu Reeves, but honestly I was being sarcastic. But, worth watching. I do want to check out Lawless though.
  
  Report this comment
Stelex
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:16pm
Dear George is very close to realizing his dream of taking down America. He has stated that we stand in the way of his dreams. If there is one decent, adept, properly trained citizen out there who would want to set America in the right direction. George may be someone you’d like to notice. Maybe also Maurice, big Ben? Just a thought.

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- Stelex
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:20pm
  A larger list is available by just using common sense on the plague taking over the world.
  
  Report this comment
barber2
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:08pm
This guy makes fortunes on misfortune and economic disaster. Japan loses . Soros wins. And he is the ” genius ” behind Media Matters. He spent Big Bucks on buying more media outlets for the 2012 election. The Media. Ring a bell with what the Obama Administration is allowed to get away with ? Obama keeps spending us into record-setting deficits . Bet old Soros is betting on the dollar to collapse. Bet Obama is helping him. Wonder if old George is Obama’s Wizard ?! What are those odds ?

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- civilwarcometh
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:18pm
  Barber i really hate this guy…http://commieblaster.com/george-soros-fund/index.html
  
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:04pm
Soros is the classic example of evil people who live forever. They never seem to lay down and finally die.

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- blanco5
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:14pm
  Only the good die young….that sounds like a song!
  
  Report this comment
- Verceofreason
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:21pm
  I think we would be wise to take advice from him.
  Any sane person would.
  
  Report this comment
- nzkiwi
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 9:34pm
  @ Verce
  
  For once I almost agree with you. Not quite to the extent that we should take advice from him, but it would certainly behoove us to keep a very close eye on his activities.
  
  Report this comment
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:03pm
So which nation will be next?

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- barber2
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:21pm
  SNOW: My guess is : The one the Obama Democrats are spending into oblivion with their Santa Claus, divisive policies and their lies that ” we don’t have a spending problem.”
  
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- RIDEMODELS
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 10:11pm
  I believe the liberal turds know they have lost it…..there is no way to gain it back……Their only choice is destroy because I think women have maybe finally wised up to the liberal BS…..but it seems a little too late now.
  
  Report this comment
capitalismrocks
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:02pm
When are the gov’ts of the world going to convene a Star Chamber and put a hit out on this global economic destroyer?!?!? You’d think there would be a dozen snipers from every country in the world trained on this a-hole just waiting to put one through his gray matter…

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- barber2
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:17pm
  What about our Democrats ? The ACORN crowd who pushed for ” home loans for poor minorities ?” That was an economic disaster. Chris Dowd . Barney Frank. The old Democrat Discrimination Card ! The Obama Administration which keeps spending us into Greece. Arming our enemies. Endangering our citizens and our allies. There are many Lefty villains in this mess but ( American/ Israeli ) capitalism is the main target.
  
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- Stelex
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:22pm
  Capt……..your thinking is backwards. This guy is in bed with most of them as well as the UN.
  
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civilwarcometh
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:55pm
I think George is Nancy Pelosi without makeup. http://weaselzippers.us/2013/02/14/pelosi-congressional-pay-cut-undermines-dignity-of-the-job/

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- blanco5
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:05pm
  You never see them pictured together…hmmmm…
  
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