Many conspiracy theories have been created about Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros

George Soros

George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...

since his rise to economic wealth. Many of them deal with the intersection between his political beliefs and his financial wealth; author Michael Wolraich has deemed the phenomenon "Anti-Sorosism".

Anti-Sorosism has come under increasing scrutiny due to the growing political currency of anti-Soros conspiracy theories in conservative and nationalist circles, with Wolraich comparing anti-Sorosism to long-running conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family

Rothschild family

The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...

 dating to 1800s Europe.

Malaysia

Soros draws a distinction between being a participant in the market and working to change the rules that market participants must follow. According to Mahathir bin Mohamed, Prime Minister of Malaysia from July 1981 to October 2003, Soros — as the hedge fund chief of Quantum — may have been partially responsible for the economic crash in 1997 of East Asian markets when the Thai currency relinquished its peg to the US dollar. According to Mahathir, in the three years leading to the crash, Soros invested in short-term speculative investment in East Asian stock markets and real estate, then divested with "indecent haste" at the first signs of currency devaluation. Soros replied, saying that Mahathir was using him "as a scapegoat for his own mistakes", that Mahathir's promises to ban currency trading (which Malaysian finance officials hastily retracted) were "a recipe for disaster" and that Mahathir "is a menace to his own country".

The two traded angry barbs against each other in various newspapers and broadcast interviews over the next nine years. The nominal US dollar GDP of ASEAN fell by US$9.2 billion in 1997 and $218.2 billion (31.7%) in 1998.

In 2006, during a visit by Soros to Malaysia on his book tour in the region, he met with Mahathir for the first time, and Mahathir conceded that he did not view Soros as responsible for the financial crisis.

Glenn Beck's conspiracy theory

On November 9, 2010 Beck aired an hour-long television program, titled "The Puppetmaster," dedicated to Soros (which he had announced as “D-Day for George Soros”). Accusations he made during this program, specifically that Soros collaborated with the Nazis as a child and that “many people would call him an antisemite”, have met with condemnation from groups including the Anti-Defamation League

Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...

 and The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants. Beck continued discussing Soros in his programs of November 10, 2010 and November 11, 2010, making additional claims including that Soros, with the help of others, is attempting to collapse the United States economy in order to help create a new world order.

Beck's statements also drew ridicule from The Daily Show

The Daily Show

The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...

host Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...

 in a November 18, 2010 skit titled 'The Manchurian Lunatic', taking aim at Beck by utilizing many tropes which appear often in segments of Beck's eponymous television broadcast

Glenn Beck (TV program)

Glenn Beck is a United States cable news show hosted by Glenn Beck that aired weekdays on Fox News Channel. The program, originally on CNN Headline News , premiered on FNC on January 19, 2009 and aired weekdays at 5:00 PM EST...

. While the skit was praised by various major media outlets, Beck shot back on November 25 by insinuating that Stewart and fellow Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

 host Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...

 are keeping or turning people into "sheep

Sheeple

Sheeple is a term of disparagement, in which people are likened to the herd animals sheep. The term is often used to denote persons who voluntarily acquiesce to a perceived authority figure's suggestion without critical analysis or sufficient research to understand the ramifications of that decision...

".

LaRouche's "drug trade" conspiracy theory

Perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche

Lyndon LaRouche

Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. is an American political activist and founder of a network of political committees, parties, and publications known collectively as the LaRouche movement...

 and his movement

LaRouche movement

The LaRouche movement is an international political and cultural network that promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included scores of organizations and companies around the world. Their activities include campaigning, private intelligence gathering, and publishing numerous periodicals,...

 have also published a body of literature which claims Soros is a leader of the international illegal drug trade

Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

. LaRouche's anti-Soros stance dates back to the 1990s, with Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis may refer to:*Michael Lewis , American non-fiction author and financial journalist*Michael Lewis , Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf*Michael Lewis , Belizean racing cyclist...

 of The New Republic

The New Republic

The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...

citing an anti-Soros protest by members of the LaRouche movement in a January 10, 1994 profile; the charge has been repeated in the years since by Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

John Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...

, David Horowitz

David Horowitz

David Joel Horowitz is an American conservative writer and policy advocate. Horowitz was raised by parents who were both members of the American Communist Party. Between 1956 and 1975, Horowitz was an outspoken adherent of the New Left before rejecting Marxism completely...

 and Accuracy in Media

Accuracy in Media

Accuracy In Media is an American, non-profit news media watchdog founded in 1969 by economist Reed Irvine. AIM describes itself as "a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that...

's Cliff Kincaid.

Other countries

Some Soros-backed pro-democracy initiatives have been banned in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

 and Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

. Ercis Kurtulus, head of the Social Transparency Movement Association (TSHD) in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, said in an interview that "Soros carried out his will in Ukraine and Georgia by using these NGOs... Last year Russia passed a special law prohibiting NGOs from taking money from foreigners. I think this should be banned in Turkey as well."

2011 Forbes article

In 2011, Forbes published an extensive article about George Soros, his activism, and U.S. foreign policy. From the article: "Soros is hated because many Eastern Europeans and Central Asians believe that he is using his money to subvert their political systems. Rightly or wrongly, this view tends to promote anti-Americanism. And it gives dictators a talking point to use against American diplomats."