Considered one of the most important macroeconomic hedge fund managers in the world, Scott Bessent (62), the 79th Treasury Secretary of the United States and therefore one of the most powerful people on the planet, started working at the age of 9 setting up chairs and umbrellas at Ocean Drive Beach in South Carolina. He later worked as a waiter's assistant. He did it not out of necessity, but for security. As his father was a real estate developer, his business was subject to market booms and busts, leading to financial difficulties that prompted young Scott to make his own way in the state of South Carolina.
Despite graduating in Economics in 1984 from the elite Yale University, Bessent's initial intention was to study journalism. However, after losing the candidacy for editor of the Yale Daily News, he opted for computer science, then art history, and finally pursued political science. He interned with investor Jim Rogers, who provided him with a couch to sleep in the office so he wouldn't miss any details. As he once stated to Business Insider, "It's like journalism, you gather a lot of information and make a decision, but instead of writing a story with a focus, you make an investment with a focus."
In 1991, he landed his first major job as a managing partner at Soros Fund Management in London, where he eventually became the office head. Bessent was part of the group led by billionaire Democrat George Soros to break the Bank of England in 1992 on the infamous Black Wednesday, when the pound suffered a dramatic fall. Due to this maneuver, Soros made $1 billion, and Bessent received a substantial commission.
Despite the events in the London Stock Exchange, due to his high rank in the city, Scott Bessent socialized with some of society's big names. A little-known fact is that in the mid-90s, he became friends with Mark Bolland, the powerful gay deputy secretary of Prince Charles, as well as an image consultant for Camilla, tasked with polishing her image after Princess Diana denigrated her as the other woman in an interview. When Bessent started dating Will Trinkle - a descendant of successful investors and real estate developers - he became part of a select group of benefactors who donated tens of thousands of dollars annually to the Prince of Wales Foundation. As the first same-sex couple presented to the queen, they regularly attended dinners hosted by Queen Elizabeth II at some of the royal residences or at her Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire.
The trust between Bessent and the royal couple was deep enough for the billionaire businessman to play a significant role in organizing and orchestrating Camilla's first solo trip to the United States in 1999. This occurred two years after Lady Di's death, and consequently, the circle around Camilla Parker-Bowles was working to shed her image as a pariah. The current Queen of England stayed at Bessent's mansion in East Hampton.
In 2000, he left Soros to found his own hedge fund in the United States, Bessent Capital, which closed five years later. From then on, he combined teaching as an adjunct professor at Harvard University with his role as Chief Investment Officer at Soros Fund Management (2011-2015) and the establishment of the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management in 2015.
After parting ways with Will Trinkle, he met John Freeman, a lawyer and former New York prosecutor whom he civilly married in 2011. The couple fulfilled their dreams of becoming parents to Cole and Caroline through surrogacy. In an interview with Yale Alumni Magazine in 2015, the billionaire confessed, "If someone had told me in 1984, when we graduated and people were dying of AIDS, that 30 years later I would be legally married and have two children through surrogacy, I wouldn't have believed it."
He dedicated a few words to his family in the Senate four days before Trump's inauguration: "I want to thank my husband, John Freeman, who is here today, and my wonderful children Cole and Caroline, who are sitting behind me, for giving me the best lesson in civics." Until their move to Washington, the Bessent-Freeman family lived in Charleston, South Carolina, in a historic residence called the Pink Mansion, which the Treasury Secretary recently sold for $18.2 million. For over four decades, he has been strongly committed to the historical preservation and architectural integrity of the city's great heritage.
In the past, he acquired Rudolph Nureyev's apartment in the Dakota in New York, bought a mansion in Miami that had belonged to Cher and Billy Joel, and eventually sold it to Matt Damon. According to Fortune magazine, Scott Bessent has a net worth of $521 million.
Before Trump appointed him Treasury Secretary during his second term, he had already shared his intentions with the American people to "revitalize the American growth engine, reduce inflationary pressures, and address the debt burden resulting from four years of uncontrolled spending." Donald Trump paused tariffs for three months based on Bessent's advice.