Billionaire philanthropist and progressive mega-donor George Soros has reportedly become the latest high-profile target of a “swatting” prank.
The Southampton Village Police Department, in the affluent Hamptons community on New York’s Long Island, received a 911 call Saturday from someone claiming that they had shot their wife and were threatening to kill themselves at Soros’ estate.
Soros has been known for backing dozens of far-left prosecutor candidates across several cities as part of his efforts to reform the criminal justice system. Through his foundation and other means, Soros has supported candidates such as Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Kim Foxx in Chicago, former DA Kim Gardner in St. Louis.
However, Soros’ work to overhaul the criminal justice system goes beyond prosecutors. One group funded by Soros, the Open Society Policy Center – an advocacy nonprofit in the Soros-bankrolled Open Society Foundations network – gave $15.18 million to Future Forward USA Action in 2022 for research and “content testing on critical policy issues.”
In recent weeks, swatting pranks have targeted several high-profile individuals, including tech investor and philanthropist Michael Dell and Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin.
Swatting is a potentially deadly prank in which a fake emergency call is made to law enforcement, prompting a large police presence to rush to a victim’s home and putting innocent people’s lives in danger. As such, many officials are calling for stricter laws and penalties for fake emergency callers and swatters.
