The hedge fund made £1 billion by betting on the devaluation of the English currency and its exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. The information was broadcast on the information site ''Les Echos''.

The biggest floating exchange currency heist was led by George Soros's right-hand man, Stanley Druckenmiller. He had the idea of a speculative attack on the pound sterling in 1992. Like its Italian counterpart, the English currency appeared overvalued and vulnerable. It was pegged to the Deutsche Mark, then the most solid of European currencies, according to an exchange rate that was less and less credible and realistic. Inflation was high in Germany because of reunification and the massive capital injections it necessitated. The Bundesbank (Buba), the German central bank did not want to hear about a drop in interest rates demanded by the English who were in recession. They wanted support from their partner to foster economic recovery in the rest of Europe. These dissensions between Helmut Schlesinger the boss of the Buba and Norman Lamont, the British finance minister, were to be discovered and exploited.

Soros met the Buba boss on the sidelines of a central bankers' conference in Basel on September 8. He immediately calls his traders to order them to sell the Italian lira massively, which will be devalued shortly after. The British pound will be next on their list. The fund increased its bet against her from $1.5 billion to $10 billion because such a profit opportunity only occurs every twenty years, according to the Hungarian-born financier. His hedge fund played its performance of the year, 12%, on this coup. If it failed, the fund would end up at zero. Of this billion pounds of sterling profits, George Soros and his traders personally pocketed at least $250 million. It was the norm at that time, hedge fund managers kept for themselves between 25 and 50% of the profits they generated with their clients' money. But intoxicated by its new status, the fund took risks and also experienced resounding failures such as February 14, 1994.