George Soros' billions and the art of short-selling regimes, currencies and democracy

Biillioniare George Soros recently said that Indian tycoon Gautam Adani's woes will lead to a "democratic revival" in India. Soros made this comment at the Munich Security Conference, as per a report from Financial Times. “Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their fate is intertwined," the former Hedge Fund manager said. 

“Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but he failed. Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament," he continued.

So who is George Soros?

George Soros is a well-known Hungarian-born American investor, philanthropist, and political activist. He was born on August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary, to a non-practicing Jewish family. Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary during World War II by assuming a false identity and helping his family do the same. 

After the war, Soros immigrated to England and attended the London School of Economics, where he earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in philosophy. Soros began his financial career in London as a trader and analyst for various firms, eventually founding his own hedge fund, Soros Fund Management, in 1969. He became famous in the financial world for his investment success, particularly in currency speculation. Soros, for a long time, has been criticised for using his personal fortune as a tool to manipulate the democractic process in different countries. 

George Soros, Open Society Foundation and the threat of Big Money

George Soros uses the Open Society Foundation, which was founded in 1993, to inject his influence into different nations. Estimates suggest that to date, Soros has deployed nearly USD32 billion to the Open Society. The group has branches in nearly 40 countries. This foundation acts as a grantmaking network to push Soros' personal political goals. 

Back in 2003, during an interview with the Washington Post, Soros said that he'll spend his entire fortune to defeat George Bush. He added that defeating Bush was a matter of life and death for him.

"I have never been heavily involved in partisan politics, but these are not normal times. President George W. Bush is endangering the United States and the world's safety while undermining American values," wrote Soros, on October 17, 2004, for Project Syndicate. "By repudiating Bush's policies at the polls, America will have a chance to regain the respect and support of the world," he reasoned.

'You're either with us or against us,' it reminds me of the Germans," he said once, as per a report from the Guardian. Bush made that statement in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack.

Christine Iverson, who was Republican national committee spokeswoman at the time, said that "George Soros has purchased the Democratic party". Even during the 2020 presidential elections, Soros was the largest contributor to the Democratic party. The 2nd biggest contributor was the fallen crypto king Sam Bankman Fried of FTX.

Soros claimed that Bush was guided by a "supremacist ideology" and presumably to fight this so-called "supremacist ideology", Soros spent millions of dollars. Most of the money was directed to 17 battleground states/ swing states.

Soros has come under fire in Israel as well. Back in 2019, current Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair Netanyahu, said that Soros is attempting to destroy Israel from the inside by attempting to rob the country of its Jewish identity. Yair Netanyahu said that Soros' organisations are working day and night to attain this goal.

In 2018, Benjamin Netanyahu himself said that Soros is attempting to undermine Israel's deportation policy. According to a report from Jerusalem Post, Soros through his foundation, supports numerous radical organisations in Israel, such as the New Israel Fund. From the year 2002 to 2015, Soros's Open Soicety Foundation, donated USD837,500 to the New Israel Fund. 

2006: George Soros convicted of insider trading

Soros, who accused the Indian tycoon of financial jugglery, is himself a convict of insider trading. The case dates back to 1988 when Soros was allegedly approached by Georges Pébereau, a French financier, who asked him to join a group of investors seeking to purchase a large number of shares in Société Générale.

While Soros initially considered participating in the group effort, he ultimately decided to pursue his own strategy of accumulating shares in four French companies, including Société Générale. However, in 1989, the French stock exchange regulatory authority, the Commission des Opérations de Bourse (COB), reportedly launched an investigation into whether Soros' transaction in Société Générale constituted insider trading.

Although initial investigations found Soros innocent and no charges were brought against him, the case was reopened a few years later. In June 2006, the French Supreme Court convicted Soros of insider trading, although it reduced the penalty to EUR940,000. Soros vehemently denied any wrongdoing, arguing that news of the takeover was public knowledge and that he had no insider knowledge of the business.

Soros also allegedly claimed that his intent to acquire shares of the company predated his awareness of the takeover. He appealed the conviction to the European Court of Human Rights in 2006, citing a 14-year delay in bringing the case to trial that, he argued, precluded a fair hearing. However, in October 2011, the court rejected his appeal in a 4-3 decision, stating that Soros had been aware of the risk of breaking insider trading laws.

How Soros profiteered by undermining the British pound

In 1992, George Soros, through his hedge fund, Soros Fund Management, made a large bet against the British pound. Soros believed that the pound was overvalued and due for a correction, so he borrowed billions of pounds and used them to purchase German marks, which he believed would appreciate in value.

As Soros and other speculators continued to bet against the pound, its value began to plummet. To defend the value of the pound, the Bank of England was forced to buy large amounts of pounds in the foreign exchange markets, which drained the bank's reserves and put upward pressure on interest rates.

However, despite the Bank of England's efforts, the pound continued to decline in value, eventually falling below its target level. In September 1992, the Bank of England was forced to withdraw the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), effectively devaluing the currency.

The aftermath of Soros' bet against the pound, known as "Black Wednesday", was significant. The devaluation of the pound had a profound impact on the British economy, causing inflation to rise and interest rates to skyrocket. The government was forced to increase taxes and cut spending in order to stabilise the economy, leading to social unrest and political turmoil.

Soros, on the other hand, made a massive profit from his bet against the pound. He reportedly earned over a billion dollars from the trade. The event  served as a cautionary tale about the dangers of currency speculation and the risks of unchecked market forces.

Soros in his own words

Perhaps, George Soros' own words can give an insight into the workings of his mind. “I fancied myself as some kind of god ...” he once wrote, according to a report from the LA Times.
“It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out," he said.
Soros told the NYTimes in 1994: “I am something unnatural. I’m very comfortable with my public persona because it is one I have created for myself. It represents what I like to be as distinct from what I really am. You know, in my personal capacity I’m not actually a selfless philanthropic person. I’ve very much self-centered.”
“I am kind of a nut who wants to have an impact,” he said to biographer Michael Kaufman. “I do not accept the rules imposed by others.... And in periods of regime change, the normal rules don’t apply," he wrote in his book "Soros on Soros".