Source: Forbes
Trump's new administration team is taking shape, but the position of the Treasury Secretary, which is of crucial importance, remains the most uncertain.
Bessent is a protégé of hedge fund tycoon George Soros, and is now fully supporting Trump. Let's meet this potential key figure who may shape the direction of the U.S. economy.
Original title: "Scott Bessent Emerges as a Potential Treasury Secretary Candidate"
In 2006, 32-year-old investment analyst Lee Morgan was about to move to Australia to start a new job, and was preparing to sublet his apartment in the West Village. He recalled that the first person to come see the apartment was a "strange" man who asked him a long list of questions: Could he install bookshelves on the walls? Could he invite friends over? "My mom will be staying with me, and we'll be sleeping in the same bed." This person said, leaving Morgan increasingly bewildered. "She's waiting outside right now."
The person outside chuckled and burst out laughing. This person was Morgan's former boss, Scott Bessent.
"He had hired an actor to mess with me as a prank," Morgan recalled, "He was very clever and funny, though his sense of humor was a bit odd." After six weeks in Australia, Morgan returned home and joined Bessent's new hedge fund company, where he worked for two and a half years.
"He has an incredible ability to make quick associations and connections, and an amazing sense of humor," another person who worked closely with Bessent said, "This is his great strength, allowing him to use humor to defuse issues in all kinds of situations."
Now, Bessent has emerged as a top contender to be nominated as Treasury Secretary in the Trump administration. (The consensus is that he and Howard Lutnick are the leading candidates for the position.)
If nominated and confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be responsible for shaping and recommending financial, economic and tax policies, becoming one of the key decision-makers for the world's largest economy.
Charisma, wit and an "outstanding" macroeconomic mind have propelled Bessent's rise on Wall Street, and are now driving his political ascent. Trump has described him as "very handsome, and one of the best on Wall Street."
The 62-year-old Bessent was born in South Carolina and has built connections with some of the world's wealthiest investors and most influential policymakers over the years.
From liberal billionaire George Soros (for whom he worked twice) to one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest families, to the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he has been acquainted with them all.
Former colleagues at various stages of his career praise his investment acumen, but also mention his cold-blooded Wall Street style. "He seems a bit reserved, emotionally even-keeled, but he's also very tough," said one person who worked with him at Soros Fund Management, "He won't tolerate stupidity."
"He is an extremely calm, unemotional person," said a former subordinate of Bessent's at Soros' firm, "We were involved in some transactions that took 12 to 16 months. If the situation changed at the last minute, Scott's thinking would change too. He has the ability to decisively abandon things."
Bessent has known Trump for many years.
According to Morgan, Bessent was friends with Blaine Trump, the late brother of Donald Trump. Bessent donated $1 million to Trump's 2016 inauguration committee and was a key economic advisor and donor, contributing $3 million to support Trump and other Republican candidates and committees in the election.
Bessent's ability to read and cater to his audience's psychology has made him a rising star in the "Trump universe." "He has very insightful views on economic policy," Bessent told Forbes in a pre-election phone interview, as he was preparing to leave the Yale Club to attend Trump's final campaign rallies in Pittsburgh and Youngstown. "He has a lot to discuss."
Bessent also has a lot to discuss these days. "I've been pretty low-key and not very outspoken for most of my life," he said in the phone interview when discussing the U.S. economic predicament. One of his main concerns is government spending. "We've never had deficits this high in non-recession, non-war times."
Bessent's past work for George Soros in the 1990s and 2010s has raised some concerns among Trump supporters. The 94-year-old Soros is a major Democratic donor and left-wing cause supporter, and a target of many right-wing conspiracy theories. Last year, a user on X claimed "Soros orchestrated the 'invasion' of African migrants into Europe," and Elon Musk, now a Trump advisor, echoed the claim that Soros wants to "erode the foundations of civilization" and accused him of trying to "destroy Western civilization." Many Republicans, including J.D. Vance, also alleged that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was "bought" by Soros when he prosecuted Trump in 2023 (Soros had donated to a criminal justice reform group that later funded Bragg's campaign).
"He's one of the few who isn't afraid of (Soros)," said one person who reported to Bessent, "I think the two of them make a pretty powerful combination." Others refused to discuss Bessent's relationship with Soros.
Compared to some of Trump's hardcore MAGA supporters, Bessent's approach is more moderate and restrained.
He currently resides in South Carolina with his husband of 13 years and their two children. Born in a small South Carolina town, he got his first job at age 9 and worked three part-time jobs to put himself through Yale, though he still ended up with $24,000 in student loans. He had originally planned to become a journalist, but after failing to become editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News, he started exploring other paths. One day, he saw a job posting at the career center: famous New York fund manager and fellow alumnus Jim Rogers was looking for an intern. "He even offered the option of sleeping on the office couch, which was key for me at the time," Bessent recalled in a 2015 interview with Yale Alumni Magazine.
Bessent later returned to his alma mater to teach a course on financial history to undergraduates, including "Financial Booms and Busts of the 20th Century" and "Hedge Funds: History, Theory, and Practice."
After living and working in London and New York, the financial hubs, Bessent supported Al Gore's presidential run in 1999 and donated $25,000 to Hillary Clinton's political action committee in 2013.
"When I knew him, he was a liberal, supporting Democratic causes," recalled Andy Pollina, who worked with Bessent at Bessent Capital in the early 2000s.
Marlene Jupiter became friends with Bessent in the late 1980s. At the time, she was selling options and derivatives at investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Bessent was a junior trader at the Saudi conglomerate Olayan Group, one of Jupiter's clients.
Jupiter said Bessent has always held conservative views, but he is a "moderate New York-style thinker, fiscally conservative." Years later, when Jupiter filed an arbitration against her former employer DLJ for allegedly defaming her to a potential employer, Bessent testified on her behalf. "He stepped up and supported me," she recalled.
In 1991, Besson entered the London office of the Soros Fund Management, where his role was reportedly that of global research director.
Allegedly, he played a behind-the-scenes role in one of Wall Street's most famous trades the following year: Soros' short selling of the British pound. This trade shook the UK financial market and brought the Soros Fund a profit of $1.5 billion in just one month. "Scott was in London at the time. He told me, 'There's a big problem in the London real estate market. We think the British economy is heading down,'" recalled billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, one of the key architects of this trade, who mentioned the incident in a recent podcast episode at Norway's central bank.
"Scott was mentored by Stanley Druckenmiller," said an analyst who once worked for Besson. "He likes to make big bets with controlled risk."
In 2000, Besson went independent, founding Besson Capital and receiving $200 million in seed funding from Soros. However, he was unable to replicate his past success after going solo.
"Most of the fund's money (by 2002) was lost," recalled former colleague Polina, who mentioned that the hedge fund market was going through a "difficult period" at the time. In 2006, Besson Capital closed and returned the funds to outside investors.
After a brief stint at the hedge fund management firm Protege Partners, Besson returned to Soros Fund Management in 2011 as Chief Investment Officer. Immediately upon his return, he embarked on another historic currency trade with Soros, making a large profit by shorting the Japanese yen. Two anonymous sources revealed that they even met with then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the time.
One source said, "In 2011, George and Scott met with Abe, and they provided him with advice, while Abe also shared the policies that would later be known as 'Abenomics' with them. He was an academic, but also understood how the real world works."
"He is highly respected in both the trading world and the policy world, and policymakers are willing to discuss with him," said another former colleague. "They all want to hear his views."
In 2017, Besson left Soros Fund again to found Key Square Capital, once more with Soros' support, receiving up to $2 billion in startup investment. According to Bloomberg, Besson ultimately returned "the vast majority" of the funds in 2018, with the fund shrinking from a peak of $4.5 billion to less than $600 million today.
Now, Besson is preparing to turn a new page.
He recently praised Trump, who may become his boss, on the Fox News program "Fox and Friends," calling him the "most insightful leader on economics" he has encountered, and predicting the next four years will be a golden era. "We can revive manufacturing. We can achieve energy dominance. We will also see a tech boom," Besson said enthusiastically. "I've had a fulfilling career, and if I have the opportunity to give back to the country with what I've learned, that would be great."
Besson's lavish praise for Trump is clearly a proactive move, aiming to secure a position. However, this may backfire. The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday that Besson and rival Howard Lutnick's aggressive lobbying has irritated Trump. As a result, another nominee for Treasury Secretary has emerged: CNBC host Larry Kudlow.
One thing is certain: the matter is not yet settled, and Trump may still have surprises in store.
