John Paulson

John Paulson is a hedge fund manager who founded Paulson & Co. in 1994 and executed what is often called the greatest single trade in history, earning billions by betting against the U.S. subprime mortgage market in 2007. A major philanthropist, he has given large gifts to universities and hospitals. His mother, Jacqueline Boklan, was of Lithuanian and Romanian Jewish descent, giving him Jewish ancestry on his mother's side; his father was of Ecuadorian descent.