john paulson news and career controversies

John Paulson is a well-known hedge fund manager who has been in the news for various reasons. He's had a successful career, founding Paulson & Co. in 1994.

Paulson made headlines in 2007 by short-selling subprime mortgage-backed securities, which paid off when the housing market collapsed.

He's also been involved in various philanthropic efforts, including donating to the New York Public Library and the Central Park Conservancy.

John Paulson was born on December 14, 1955, in Queens, New York City, to Alfred G. Paulson and Jacqueline (née Boklan).

His father, Alfred G. Paulson, was born in Ecuador to a father of half French and half Norwegian descent and an Ecuadorian mother, and later changed his surname from Paulsen to Paulson.

John's mother, Jacqueline, was the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania and Romania who had moved to New York City.

Alfredo, John's father, enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he served and was wounded in Italy during World War II.

John Paulson's family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child, but later returned to New York City, where his father worked at Arthur Andersen and later as the CFO at public-relations firm Ruder Finn.

John Paulson dropped out of college initially, but later returned to NYU in 1976, where he began to excel in business studies.

He graduated valedictorian of his class summa cum laude in finance from New York University's College of Business and Public Administration in 1978.

John Paulson went on to earn an MBA as a George F. Baker Scholar (top 5 percent of his class) from Harvard Business School in 1980, on a Sidney J. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs scholarship.

John Paulson's career in finance has been marked by significant success and some notable controversies. He began his career at Boston Consulting Group in 1980, where he provided research and advice to companies. Paulson's ambitious nature led him to leave for Odyssey Partners, where he worked with Leon Levy.

Paulson's hedge fund, Paulson & Co., was founded in 1994 with just $2 million and one employee. By 2003, his fund had grown to $300 million in assets. He specializes in "event-driven" investments, such as mergers, acquisitions, and proxy contests. Paulson has made hundreds of such investments throughout his career, including a notable proxy event investment in Yahoo's 2008 proxy contest.

Paulson's success in the gold sector led to a record-breaking $5 billion in profits in 2010. However, his investments in Bank of America, Citigroup, and Sino-Forest Corporation resulted in significant losses in 2011.

Paulson became world-famous in 2007 by shorting the US housing market, as he foresaw the subprime mortgage crisis and bet against mortgage-backed securities by investing in credit default swaps. He earned over $4 billion personally on this trade alone.

Paulson worked with Goldman Sachs to provide liquidity for low-performing home loans in Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada. They created the Abacus 2007-AC1 investment vehicle together.

The Abacus 2007-AC1 investment vehicle was created to keep Paulson's bet against the underlying assets hidden from people who purchased it. Goldman was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over Abacus.

Goldman settled out of court with the SEC, agreeing to pay $550 million, including $300 million to the U.S. government and $250 million to investors. This was one of the largest penalties ever paid by a Wall Street firm.

John Paulson, a hedge fund billionaire, has made some bold statements about his investment plans if Kamala Harris is elected. He'd pull his money out of the market and go into cash and gold.

Harris' economic policies, according to Paulson, would spook investors. He's concerned about her proposed tax plans, including raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and increasing the capital gains rate from 20% to 28%.

Paulson predicts that Harris' plan to tax unrealized gains for individuals with a net worth of $100 million or more would cause a market crash and an immediate recession. He thinks it would result in a mass selling of stocks, bonds, homes, and art.

Paulson is willing to take a chance on market timing, but only if he's confident in the policy. He's not afraid to admit that he'd sell his liquid equities if Harris wins the White House.

Many managers have left the hedge fund industry due to controversies and scandals.

One notable example is the case of Raj Rajaratnam, who was convicted of insider trading in 2011 and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Managers like Rajaratnam often face intense scrutiny and public backlash, which can make it difficult to continue working in the industry.

The case of Rajaratnam highlights the risks and consequences of engaging in unethical behavior.

John Paulson has been married to Jenny Zaharia since 2000, in an Episcopalian ceremony in Southampton, New York.

Jenny, a Romanian immigrant, came to the United States after her brother George defected and moved to Queens.

They had two daughters and lived in a 28,500-square-foot townhouse on East 86th Street, purchased for $14.7 million in 2004.

In 2008, Paulson bought an estate in Southampton for $41 million, and in 2010, he purchased a home in Aspen, Colorado for $24.5 million.

The couple's marriage ended in 2022, when Jenny sued Paulson for $1 billion in damages.

Paulson was reportedly engaged to be married to 35-year-old clinical dietitian Alina de Almeida in 2024.

John Paulson is a man of great wealth and philanthropy. He has made several charitable donations between 2009 and 2011, including $15 million to the Center for Responsible Lending and $20 million to New York University Stern School of Business.

The auditorium at New York University Stern School of Business is now named after Paulson in recognition of his generous gift. He also donated $5 million to the Southampton Hospital on Long Island and £2.5 million to the London School of Economics for the John A. Paulson Chair in European Political Economy.

In 2012, Paulson donated $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy, the largest monetary donation in the history of New York City's park system at the time. This donation was a significant contribution to the upkeep and maintenance of Central Park.

Paulson's philanthropic efforts continued in 2015, when he donated $400 million to Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the largest gift received in the university's history. The engineering school was subsequently renamed the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Here are some notable donations made by John Paulson:

In recognition of his philanthropic contributions, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem awarded Paulson an honorary doctorate in 2024.