President-elect Donald Trump nominated Scott Bessent as his next Treasury Secretary, based on multiple reports. Bessent, a former chief investment officer had become Trump's "go-to economic advisor," earning Trump's trust on several matters, according to the Wall Street Journal.
🚨President Trump has formally confirmed that Scott Bessent bas been nominated to serve as the Treasury Secretary. pic.twitter.com/YG0qZ9ruIh
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) November 23, 2024
"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Scott is widely respected as one of the World's foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists. Scott's story is that of the American Dream," Trump said in a statement released Friday.
Who is Scott Bessent?
Scott Bessent, an investor with a distinguished career in finance, worked with macro investment billionaire George Soros and renowned short seller Jim Chanos. He also played a key role in managing his own hedge fund. Bessent has campaigned for tax reform and deregulation, particularly in order to increase bank lending and energy production, as indicated in a recent opinion post he penned for The Wall Street Journal.
The hedge fund billionaire grew up in the village of Little River in South Carolina. He then attended Yale College and graduated with a political science degree in 1984.
He worked for Jim Chanos in the late 1980s before joining Soros Fund Management, Soros' renowned macroeconomic investing business. He then assisted Soros and senior deputy Stanley Druckenmiller on their most famous trade- shorting the British Pound in 1992, which netted the business more than $1 billion.
In 2015, the 62-year-old secured $4.5 billion, including $2 billion from Soros, to establish a hedge fund business known as Key Square Group.
According to a regulatory statement, the firm's total assets were around $577 million in December 2023.
Scott Bessent's Family
Bessent currently resides in his native state of South Carolina. He lives with his husband John Freeman, a former New York City prosecutor. The couple has two children.