President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary operates a hedge fund that reaped a massive windfall two years ago — even as global markets sagged.

But Key Square lost 7% in 2017, and then lost money or just broke even from 2018 to 2021, according to the second person and performance disclosures from one of its investors, New York City Police Pension Fund. The hedge fund gained double digits in both 2023 and 2024 and is up "double digits" over its history, according to the second person.

Not surprisingly, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Finance Committee as well as the Senate Banking Committee, commended his fellow South Carolinian, in a news release, saying Bessent will “usher in a tax code that enhances growth, investment and economic opportunity for all Americans.”

Scott Bessent, the founder of the Connecticut-based hedge fund Key Square Group, had been making a full-court press for the post.

In 1992, Bessent helped Soros pull off the firm’s greatest trade: shorting the British pound. The British government was part of the European Union at the time and its central b

When Donald Trump announced Friday that hedge fund manager Scott Bessent was his pick for Treasury secretary, there was a massive sigh of relief from the markets, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling sharply (a sign that investors think Bessent will help keep inflation cool) and the stock market getting a little bump.

In a sea of controversial choices for the incoming administration, the president-elect’s choice for treasury head is being welcomed on Wall Street with open arms. In a sea of controversial choices for his second term,

President-elect Donald Trump has referred to his Treasury pick, billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, as "one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street."