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  • 2019-02-05 (xsd:date)
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  • Was George Soros Arrested in Switzerland in February 2019? (en)
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  • George Soros, perhaps the most maligned and lied-about public figure alive, was once again the target of another garbled and malicious rumor in February 2019, when conspiracy theory websites reported the breaking news that he had been arrested in Switzerland -- based on information provided by former U.S. President Barack Obama, who had himself been charged with treason against the United States and detained at Guantanamo Bay for a month. Soros, an 88-year-old financier and philanthropist known for championing and funding pro-democracy and civil society causes, has for years been the subject of widespread slander, misinformation and conspiracy theories, many of which we have examined and debunked. In October 2018, alleged domestic terrorist Cesar Sayoc was charged with mailing a pipe bomb to the homes of several prominent perceived liberal public figures and organizations, including Soros, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and Barack and Michelle Obama. Sayoc's social media profiles indicated that he had an obsessive hatred of Soros, one fueled by years of false, inflammatory and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and allegations against him. On 3 February, BeforeItsNews.com -- a junk news web site with a long record of publishing risible conspiracy theories and misinformation -- posted the following incoherent account of the purported arrest of Soros by a fictional coalition known as the Alliance (or the Earth Alliance) and implicated Soros in a web of purported evildoing extending to ritual Satanic child abuse: In something of a grand slam of conspiracy theories, the article claimed that the arrest of Soros was based on information provided by former U.S. President Barack Obama, who -- purportedly charged with treason for his involvement in two other debunked but resilient conspiracy theories relating to the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya and the Uranium One saga -- had been detained at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: This conspiracy theorist fantasy was republished on blogs and web sites including FreedomForHumanity2016, ConspiracyDailyUpdate, and OperationDisclosure. The article cited no sources whatsoever, and no corroboration for its outlandish claims could be found in either Swiss, American or international news media or law enforcement statements. Soros-obsessed conspiracy theorists have previously fantasized about his arrest, incarceration and even death. (en)
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