In January 2025, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, was officially confirmed by the Senate in a 68–29 vote. A longtime financial advisor and major donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign, Bessent now serves as the 79th U.S. Treasury Secretary.
Announcing the nomination in late 2024, Trump called Bessent “widely respected as one of the world’s foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists.” He described Bessent’s story as “the American dream” and praised his alignment with the America First agenda. As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, Trump said Bessent would play a key role in strengthening the nation’s economic position and maintaining the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
Closing his remarks, Trump declared that together, he and Bessent would “make America rich again, prosperous again, affordable again, and, most importantly, great again.”
Bessent now makes history as the first openly gay Treasury Secretary and the second openly gay Cabinet member in U.S. history, following Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Find out more about his personal life below.
Who Is Scott Bessent’s Spouse?
Bessent is married to John Freeman, a former New York City prosecutor. The couple tied the knot in 2011 and resides in Charleston, South Carolina.
Does Scott Bessent Have Kids?
Yes, the couple shares two children, Cole and Caroline, born via surrogacy.
In 2015, Bessent told Yale Alumni Magazine, “If you had told me in 1984, when we graduated [from Yale], and people were dying of AIDS, that 30 years later I’d be legally married and we would have two children via surrogacy, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
What Is Scott Bessent’s Net Worth?
Bessent has a net worth of $700 million in 2025, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
How Did Scott Bessent Make His Money?
Bessent is the founder of the macro investment firm Key Square Group.
A native of South Carolina, Bessent earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University in 1984 before beginning his career in finance. In 1991, he joined Soros Fund Management (SFM), where he became a partner throughout the 1990s and later served as head of the London office. Bessent gained widespread recognition for betting against the British pound, a move that earned SFM $1 billion. (He repeated this success in 2013 by betting against the Japanese yen, bringing in additional profits.)
After resigning from SFM in 2000, Bessent founded a $1 billion hedge fund, which closed in 2005. He then served as a senior investment advisor at Protégé Partners, a fund-of-funds firm. Bessent returned to SFM in 2011 as chief investment officer, a role he held until 2015. He left in 2015 to establish his own firm, Key Square Group. Bessent announced that he would sever ties with the group as Treasury Secretary.
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