Key Square Group, the hedge fund started by Scott Bessent in 2015, has seen its assets under management drop sharply over the past six years on the back of a series of major losses

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.

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.

The Treasury Secretary is a high-level Cabinet position charged with advising the president on matters related to financial, economic and tax policy.

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.

President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Scott Bessent to be his Treasury secretary, offering the hedge fund manager and major campaign fundraiser the preeminent economic post in his administration.

If confirmed, Bessent would runn the department that manages the nation's finances as well as its tax agency, the Internal Revenue Service.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named billionaire Scott Bessent as his Treasury secretary, choosing the hedge fund manager to help execute an agenda promising tax cuts and tariffs.The nomination of Bessent -- who recently served as an advisor to Trump -- would put him at the forefront of rolling out the president-elect's economic plan,

Investor Scott Bessent has spent his career in finance, working for macro investment billionaire George Soros and noted short seller Jim Chanos, as well as running his own hedge fund.

In addition, Trump rounded out his health team, naming his choices for surgeon general and leaders for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the the Food and Drug Administration.

When Trump announced he’d chosen Bessent to lead the Treasury department, there was no mention of Soros, or his ties to the financier—only that “Bessent has been involved in some of the largest and most profitable trades in Hedge Fund History, including shorting the British pound and the Japanese yen,” the president-elect wrote.