George Soros Has Great 2013 Returns, But Volatile Love Life

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George Soros had a good and bad year in 2013: he won in business but is having a rough go of it in the love department.

In 2013 the Quantum Endowment fund had its second best year ever, up just over 19% with $28.6 billion under management. Its best year was 2007, up 32%.  With the positive returns George Soros, who closed the fund to family only so as to avoid regulatory scrutiny, eclipses Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio’s Pure Alpha fund as the one who had delivered the most money for investors.  Quantum had made $40 billion since its founding in 1973, according to reports.

George Soros pound trade as volatile as his love life

George Soros and his Quantum fund are best known for triggering the collapse of the British pound in 1992, which generated over $1 billion in revenue for the fund and firmly placed George Soros among the legendary traders in the category of gutsy trades.  This “high alpha” strategy was a volatile play that ultimately “broke the back” of the Bank of England, according to some market watchers.

While Quantum’s investing strategy has mellowed, Soros’ personal life remains as volatile and on the edge as that British pound trade.  George Soros “on again, off again” relationship with girlfriend Adriana Ferreyr turned violent last Tuesday, according to court papers and news reports.

Court gets physical as former girlfriend hits Soros, associates

Ferreyr, a South American soap actress, “clocked Soros in the head, knocked the glasses off his California lawyer Martin Singer, cursed his other prominent lawyer William Zabel and even screamed at her own high powered attorney William Beslow,” according to the media reports and court documents.  “A–h–le! You piece of s–t!” Ferreyr, 30, allegedly screamed at Soros, 83, when he passed her in the hallway on the way to the restroom, according to the media report.  She was later reported to have slapped a Soros aide, Jose Santos, in the face and kicked him in the shins.

The outburst in court followed Ferreyr dragging a photographer she hired into the court, which has pre-set rules on videotaping, and screaming “I am filming and calling CNN. Everyone!” she said, in what could be interpreted as an apparent attempt to embarrass or influence Soros to negotiate a settlement.

When attorneys for both Ferreyr and Soros agreed that the tape recording in court should not be filmed, Ferreyr was reported to have yelled at her attorney for 20 minutes.  Once the proceedings started again, Ferreyr is said to have started to record the action with her camera phone, which drew immediate objections.

According to the report, after lawyers agreed to break for lunch, Ferreyr “suddenly and without warning … lunged at Mr. Soros — who is 83 years old — and struck his head with her hands, knocking off the headphones he was wearing to amplify the audio in the room,” Singer was quoted as saying.  Singer asked the presiding judge to order that Ferreyr take “no action directly or indirectly to destroy, modify, alter or .. .change the audio, photographic or video recordings taken by her or at her direction” at the deposition, the report said.

Ferreyr is asking for a $1.9 million condo on the Upper East side of Manhattan she says Soros promised her.  That condo was given to Tamiko Bolton, who George Soros married this past fall.

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