Scott Bessent Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Scott Bessent

• Scott Besent was born in a middle-class family. His mother got married 5 times, and his biological father later went bankrupt because of bad real estate investments.

• His uncle, John Jenrette, a member of the United States House of Representatives, was caught by Abscam while taking a bribe.

• Bessent started working at the age of 9 in his first summer job and later graduated from high school in 1980, being voted ‘most likely to succeed.’

• He wanted to join the U.S. Naval Academy, but didn’t apply because he didn’t want to lie about being gay at the time.

• In 1984, Bessent completed his political science degree from Yale, where he held several leadership roles, including editor, treasurer, and society president.

• After college, he got an internship with Jim Rogers and later worked at Brown Brothers Harriman and Jim Chanos’s firm, Kynikos Associates.

• In 1991, he joined Soros Fund Management and led the London office. In 1992, he helped the firm earn $1 billion by betting against the British Pound.

• He left Soros in 2000 and launched Bessent Capital, a $1 billion hedge fund that later shut down in 2005 due to strategic mismatches.

• He then advised Protégé Partners and, from 2006 to 2011, taught three economic history courses as an adjunct professor at Yale.

• In 2007, he bought a Bedford Hills home for $11.3 million and sold it in 2011 for $7.1 million.

• He also purchased a unit at One Sutton Place South in 2007 for $12 million, selling it in 2009 for $9.5 million.

• In 2010, he bought a Miami Beach home for $9.5 million and another home in Southampton, New York, for $9.95 million.

• Bessent returned to Soros in 2011 as Chief Investment Officer, where in 2013 he made a $1.2 billion profit betting against the Japanese Yen.

• In 2013, he donated to Hillary Clinton, but in 2017, he gave $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration.

• He sold the Miami Beach property in 2014 for $14.5 million, and the Southampton home in 2019 for $19 million, both after renovations.

• In 2015, he launched Key Square Group with Michael Germino and received a $2 billion anchor investment from George Soros.

• Key Square earned 13% returns in 2016, but had weak performance between 2017 and 2021, leading to client exits and asset reduction.

• In 2016, he purchased the 9,407-square-foot John Ravenel House in Charleston for $6.5 million and later renovated the entire property, which earned him an award from the Preservation Society of Charleston in 2021.

• The firm rebounded with strong profits in 2021, 2022, and 2023, but assets had already dropped from $5.1 billion to $577 million.

• In 2022, Bessent launched two foundations and helped create the McLeod Rehabilitation Centre at Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville, South Carolina.

• In 2017, he bought a unit at 720 Park Avenue for $19.25 million, and sold it in 2021 for $15 million.

• The number of institutional clients fell from 180 to 20, though 2024 returns were in double-digit percentages.

• In 2018, the firm returned Soros’s money as part of a pre-agreed deal and continued with new investors like Australia’s Future Fund.

• In 2024, Bessent announced he would leave Key Square to become U.S. Treasury Secretary under Trump’s administration.

• In 2024, he opposed raising the U.S. federal minimum wage, stating it should be handled by states and regions, not the central government.

• Bessent has supported many politicians, including hosting an Al Gore fundraiser in 2000 and donating to both McCain and Obama.

• Between 2023 and 2024, Bessent gave over $1 million to Trump’s re-election and hosted fundraisers raising $7 million and $50 million, respectively.

• In 2024, he became Trump’s economic adviser and proposed a 3-point plan inspired by Japan’s Three Arrows economic policy.

• On November 22, 2024, Trump nominated Bessent as Treasury Secretary, though Elon Musk criticised him as a business-as-usual choice.

• On 16 January 2025, Bessent appeared before the Senate Finance Committee and supported tariffs, tax cuts, and tough policies on China and Russia. On 27 January, the Senate confirmed him with a 68–29 vote.

• The same day, a man was arrested for planning to attack him at the Capitol. In April 2025, 140 Yale classmates sent a letter accusing Bessent of supporting fascism, which he dismissed as odd and sad.

• On January 28, 2025, Bessent was sworn in as Treasury Secretary by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in Washington, D.C.

• On January 31, he gave Elon Musk’s team access to the Treasury’s $6 trillion payment system and private taxpayer data.

• On February 3, he became acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and immediately stopped its activities.

• That same day, Bessent was asked to co-develop a U.S. sovereign wealth fund with the Commerce Department.

• He sold the Ravenel House in March 2025 for $18.25 million, plus $3 million for furnishings, marking Charleston’s highest home sale.

• In April 2025, he clashed with Elon Musk during heated meetings. Musk called Bessent a ‘Soros agent’ and mocked his hedge fund’s performance, while Bessent criticised Musk’s overpromises in government cost-cutting.

• They fought over IRS leadership. Trump first picked Musk’s choice, Gary Shapley, but later replaced him with Bessent’s pick, Michael Faulkender.

• In April 2025, Trump announced broad new tariffs, and Bessent warned other countries not to retaliate or they would face stronger actions.

• He said stock market drops didn’t bother him and denied that a recession was coming due to the new tariffs. On 9 April 2025, Trump paused some tariffs after Bessent and Commerce Secretary Lutnick convinced him to change course.

• Bessent supports using U.S. trade policy to isolate China economically and push allies to reduce business ties with it.

• He is a supporter of nuclear power and less government control in the economy, saying private-sector jobs grow wages faster.

• He has been close friends with King Charles III and Robert Trump. Robert’s ex-wife, Blaine Trump, is his daughter’s godmother.

• Before becoming Treasury Secretary, Bessent served on Yale’s university council and donated the Bessent Library with his sister.

• He also funded three Yale scholarships for first-generation students, those from South Carolina, and students from the Bronx.

• Bessent was chairman of the investment committee at Rockefeller University and served on its executive board.

• He has also served on the board of God’s Love We Deliver and was part of the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust (now Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation).

• He was on the board of the Spoleto Festival USA and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

• He also supported the restoration of the Nathaniel Russell House in Charleston, a National Historic Landmark.

• As of late 2024, he held over $50 million each in SPDR S&P 500 ETF, Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, Invesco QQQ, U.S. Treasury bills, Chinese yuan, and Japanese yen.

• Over his lifetime, Bessent bought and sold more than 20 homes worth over $127 million, including both profit and loss sales.