From Newsmax

Controversial billionaire George Soros has been named “Person of the Year” by The Financial Times.

The FT said its choice of Person of the Year is “usually a reflection of their achievements. In the case of Mr. Soros this year, his selection is also about the values he represents.”

The FT said Soros is the “standard bearer of liberal democracy and open society. These are the ideas which triumphed in the Cold War. Today, they are under siege from all sides, from Vladimir Putin’s Russia to Donald Trump’s America.”

Soros, a former hedge fund manager who made his fortune with swashbuckling trades in currency and bond markets, is a longtime supporter and financial backer of progressive causes and Democratic politicians — and a bogeyman of the right wing, which accuses him of all manner of anti-American plots. Recently, President Donald Trump claimed that Soros paid people to protest Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation, Bloomberg reported.

An immigrant from Hungary, Soros started his career in New York City in the 1950s and rose to fame as a hedge fund manager in 1992 by netting $1 billion from a bet that the U.K would be forced to devalue the pound.

The FT praised Soros for using “philanthropy to battle against authoritarianism, racism and intolerance. Through his long commitment to openness, media freedom and human rights, he has attracted the wrath of authoritarian regimes and, increasingly, the national populists who continue to gain ground, particularly in Europe.”

The FT also mentioned numerous “antisemitic conspiracy theories” about Soros. “It is difficult to keep count. Hardly a day goes by without a statement, a tweet or an image depicting him as a master manipulator of global politics,” the FT said.

“I’m blamed for everything, including being the anti-Christ,” the 88-year-old U.S. investor and philanthropist told the FT.

“I wish I didn’t have so many enemies, but I take it as an indication that I must be doing something right,” said Soros.

In October, an apparent explosive device was discovered in the mail at his suburban New York home.

The intensity of attacks against him from the right has increased this year. Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican of Florida, speculated publicly that Soros’s foundations had offered cash to people in South America to join a caravan of migrants traveling north toward to the U.S. Soros has denied the accusation.

Last week, the Central European University, founded by George Soros, said it had been forced out of Hungary in “an arbitrary eviction” that violated academic freedom, and it confirmed plans to open a new campus in Austria, Reuters reported.

CEU’s statement is the culmination of a years-long struggle between Hungarian-born but U.S.-based Soros, who promotes liberal causes through his charities, and the nationalist, anti-immigrant government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

For nearly three decades CEU has been a gateway to the West for thousands of students from ex-communist eastern Europe, offering U.S.-accredited degree programs in an academic climate that celebrates free thought.

Earlier this year, Open Society Foundations, Soros’ main funding network, was also forced to leave Hungary.

© 2018 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.

For more on this story go to: https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/george-soros-ft-person-year/2018/12/19/id/895052/?ns_mail_uid=6952f1f9-507d-4a20-8cc0-0a1db158d76e&ns_mail_job=DM10760_12192018&s=acs&dkt_nbr=010535nex679