SOROS, GEORGE

(1930– )

Hungarian-American philanthropist and currency speculator. Listed byForbesmagazine as one of the 30 richest people in the world, George Soros runs Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute (OSI), which supports economic and political transition of post-totalitarian states in Europe and Eurasia. His support of democratization led him to fund the Rose Revolution and othercolor revolutionsacross post-Soviet space. He emerged as a biting critic ofVladimirPutin’s attacks oncivil societyin Russia, particularly after the arrest ofMikhail Khodorkovsky, whom Soros viewed as a major asset to the country’s social fabric. Soros has connections to a number of other Russianoligarchs, includingVladimir Potanin.