Saturday, April 24, 2010

John Paulson's Donations to Carla Bruni Could Embarrass Nicolas Sarkozy

THE TELEGRAPH: French president Nicolas Sarkozy faced potential embarrassment on Friday after it emerged that the most generous donor to his wife's charitable foundation was John Paulson – the man whose hedge fund is at the heart of the US government's case against Goldman Sachs.

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Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni. Photo: The Telegraph

The US investment bank is accused of defrauding investors by failing to say that Mr Paulson, a prominent hedge fund manager, bet against a Goldman sub-prime debt product that he helped design.

Mr Paulson correctly bet that the US housing bubble would burst, reaping a £10bn profit for his Paulson & Co hedge fund in 2007. The speculator banked a £2.4bn bonus that year in one of the largest payouts in the history of corporate America.

It transpires that Mr Paulson and his wife, Jenny, pledged to donate €500,000 (£435,000) to Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy's foundation "every year for three years". >>> Henry Samuel, in Paris | Friday, April 23, 2010