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GEORGE Soros is one of the leading lights of American high society, so rumors of his death are sure to spread.
A bizarre hoax has sent “George Soros dead” viral online, but he is alive and well. Here’s how it unfolded.
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Who is George Soros?
George Soros, 92, is a Hungarian-American investor who emigrated to England in 1947 from Nazi-occupied Hungary.
He attended the London School of Economics and started his career at merchant banks in England and the US before starting his first hedge fund in 1969.
Soros used profits from that to start Soros Fund Management, his second hedge fund, in 1970.
He rose to fame and fortune two decades ago on a now-historic trade, in which he took on the Bank of England and shrewdly wagered on a devaluation of the pound.
Soros is an active contributor to politically liberal causes and frequently speaks on world economic events.
He has been married three times and divorced twice and is currently wed to yoga firm boss Tamiko Bolton – 42 years his junior.
His fortune has been estimated at £5.8billion after he gave away 80 per cent of his wealth to charity.
The philanthropist donated £13billion to Open Society Foundations – an international group of charities that works in more than 100 countries on projects focused on refugee relief and public health.
Before the transfer, he had a net worth of around £16.5billion.
Why is ‘George Soros dead’ trending?
Yesterday evening a conspiracy theorist going by the name Cillian tweeted a “breaking” announcement of George Soros’s death – attributing the news to Politics For All Ireland, another conspiracy account.
His tweet from the handle CilComLFC has been seen by nearly 600,000 people – many of whom appear to have fallen for the grim hoax.
In fact, Soros is alive and well.
It’s not the first time Soros’ “death” made headline news.
In 2013, Reuters accidentally published an obituary on Soros.
The news agency realized it was a death hoax and quickly pulled the report.
What have people said about ‘George Soros dead’ trending?
Thousands of conspiracy theorists from across the world celebrated Soros’s “death” on Twitter after falling for the ghoulish hoax.
The Jewish financier has been the target of paranoid anti-Semitic fantasies.
Some of these conspiracies have been peddled by the government in Hungary, the country Soros fled during the Holocaust.
