Trump says he may file RICO charges against George Soros or his family for funding paid protests

President Donald Trump, speaking from the White House Friday, said his administration is looking into filing RICO charges against George Soros or members of his family.

Trump made the comments during a Fox News interview after being confronted by protesters at a Washington, D.C. restaurant earlier this week.

“Protesters get paid for their profession from Soros and other people,” Trump said. “And we’re going to look into Soros, because I think it’s a RICO case against him and other people. Because this is more than like protests. This is real agitation.”

The remarks were made during Trump’s sit-down with Fox, according to the full segment broadcast Wednesday. The RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) is usually aimed at dismantling organized criminal networks.

Trump didn’t clarify which Soros relative might be involved or name any organizations under suspicion. But this isn’t the first time Trump has called for an investigation. In previous speeches, he’s attacked Soros and “his wonderful Radical Left son,” without specifying which son.

George’s son Alex Soros currently chairs the board of Open Society Foundations, one of the world’s biggest philanthropic groups tied to liberal causes. The renewed interest in launching a federal investigation follows the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close Trump ally.

Trump links political funding to financial chaos, points to Soros bets

Soros has long been linked to massive financial movements. He profited from one of the biggest currency trades in history. Leading up to Black Wednesday in September 1992, Soros’s fund had sold short over $10 billion in British pounds, believing the UK’s entry into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism was flawed.

The British government refused to raise interest rates or float the currency. The pound collapsed. The UK was forced to withdraw. Soros’s profit: over $1 billion. The UK Treasury lost £3.4 billion.

Soros was believed to have traded billions of Finnish markkas in 1996, expecting the currency to drop. Finnish authorities said they saw no evidence of any conspiracy.

In 1997, during the Asian financial crisis, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Soros of deliberately punishing ASEAN countries for accepting Myanmar.

Mahathir referenced Soros’s Jewish background during the accusations, calling him “a Jew who triggered the currency plunge.” In 2006, Mahathir changed course after meeting Soros and accepted that he had not been responsible.

Soros later wrote in his book The Crisis of Global Capitalism that his fund had shorted the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit in early 1997, with contracts ranging from six months to a year. He said they later bought those currencies to lock in gains, but moved too early, fearing Malaysia would impose capital controls, which eventually happened.

Soros also tried shorting the Hong Kong dollar during that time using similar strategies. But China backed the peg, and Hong Kong’s currency stayed stable. Soros’s fund lost most of the money bet against the HKD.

French court found Soros guilty of insider trading after 14-year case

In 1988, Soros was contacted by Georges Pébereau, a French financier who tried to organize a takeover of Société Générale and other companies under France’s privatization program.

Soros didn’t join the group but bought shares in Société Générale, Suez, Paribas, and Compagnie Générale d’Électricité.

French regulators launched an investigation in 1989, but found no evidence of insider trading. The case was reopened years later.

On June 14, 2006, the French Supreme Court ruled Soros guilty and fined him €940,000. Soros denied any wrongdoing, claiming the information he had was public and that he had already planned to buy the shares before learning of the takeover.

He appealed the conviction to the European Court of Human Rights in 2006, arguing the 14-year delay violated his right to a fair trial under Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In October 2011, the court rejected his appeal in a 4–3 decision, saying Soros should’ve known the risks of trading with non-public information about a takeover.

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