"Look, most people have nice things to say about Paulson," says a competitor. "That said, this is the most obvious crowded trade out there. He is a smart guy with a history of doing well in merger arbitrage with a much smaller fund. He got the one big trade right, and now people seem to think he's an expert at all sorts of other stuff. This is classic return-chasing from people who want to show their own investors that they owned the winner."

    In the lingo of Wall Street, John Paulson, who declined to comment for this story, is now so big that he is unable to "put on" or "take off" risk when he feels like it. The AngloGold stake, for example, is probably his to keep from this point onward, unless he's selling it at cut-rate prices.

    Should he have retired with his $3.7 billion payday in 2007 and gone into history as one of the best ever? Or is he merely doing that which is economically rational and taking the huge management fees when they're there for the taking?

    Whenever he's done, he's going to be a very rich man. But likely more of a mortal than he was in 2009.