Bessent executes Abenomics yen short, generating billions for Soros Fund

As CIO of Soros Fund Management, Bessent executes a large short position against the Japanese yen, based on his assessment that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic program — combining aggressive quantitative easing, fiscal stimulus, and structural reform — will substantially weaken the yen. The idea originates at a 2012 dinner at Yale's Mory's Club with Abenomics architect Koichi Hamada. The Soros fund earns roughly $1 billion from November 2012 through early 2013; Bessent's total returns from the Abenomics trade through 2015 amount to approximately $3.5 billion. The Wall Street Journal dubs him "The Man Who Broke the Bank of Japan."