FILE - In this May 29, 2018, file photo, philanthropist George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, attends the European Council On Foreign Relations Annual Meeting in Paris. The... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this May 29, 2018, file photo, philanthropist George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, attends the European Council On Foreign Relations Annual Meeting in Paris. The FBI and local police responded to an address near Soros' home after an object that appeared to be... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this May 29, 2018, file photo, philanthropist George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, attends the European Council On Foreign Relations Annual Meeting in Paris. The FBI and local police responded to an address near Soros' home after an object that appeared to be... (Associated Press) FILE - In this May 29, 2018, file photo, philanthropist George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, attends the European Council On Foreign Relations Annual Meeting in Paris. The... (Associated Press) 
 
 BEDFORD, N.Y. (AP) — The FBI and local police responded to an address near the home of philanthropist George Soros after an object that appeared to be an explosive was found in a mailbox, according to authorities. 
 
 The Bedford Police Department said it responded to the address in the hamlet of Katonah at 3:45 p.m. Monday after an employee of the residence opened the package. 
 
 The person placed the package in a wooded area and called police, who alerted the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives. 
 
 Beford police said the FBI's terrorism task force was investigating. 
 
 The FBI's New York field office said on Twitter that it was "conducting an investigation at and around a residence in Bedford, NY. There is no threat to public safety, and we have no further comment at this time." 
 
 Neither local nor federal authorities would say whether the object was capable of exploding. 
 
 A message emailed to Soros' foundation wasn't immediately returned. 
 
 Soros, a billionaire who made his fortune in hedge funds, has donated heavily to liberal causes and is vilified on the right. 
 
 He is also the subject of many unfounded conspiracy theories. Recently, conservative critics have, without evidence, accused him of secretly financing a caravan of Central American migrants to make their way north toward Mexico and the U.S. 
 
 Others have falsely accused him of being a Nazi collaborator during World War II, when he was a child in Hungary. 
 
 Activists frequently post the addresses of homes he owns in Westchester County, north of New York City, on social media sometimes accompanied by ill wishes. 
 
 FBI officials didn't respond to requests for more information late Monday. 

 [Read our latest coverage of the pipe bomb found at George Soros’s house.] 
 
 The explosive device found in a mailbox at the home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, on Monday afternoon was relatively small, a senior law enforcement official said on Tuesday. 
 
 The device was “proactively denotated” by bomb squad technicians from the Westchester County Police Department. 
 
 The bomber’s motive remained unclear. Mr. Soros is a favorite target of right-wing groups. He was not home at the time. 
 
 The investigation has been taken over by the New York offices of the F.B.I. and the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, said the senior law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is open. 

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Soros was reportedly not at home at the time of Monday's incident 
 
 A suspect package found in a post box at the home of billionaire businessman George Soros contained an explosive device, New York police have confirmed. 
 
 The item was discovered on Monday by an employee of Mr Soros, who took it to a nearby wooded area, where it was later destroyed by bomb squad officers. 
 
 The incident is being investigated by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. 
 
 Mr Soros has become a frequent target for criticism by right-wing groups due to his support for liberal causes. 
 
 What happened? 
 
 Mr Soros was not at his home in the town of Bedford in Westchester County at the time of the incident, according to reports. 
 
 "An employee of the residence opened the package, revealing what appeared to be an explosive device," a Bedford Police Department official told the New York Times. 
 
 Officials say that police received a call about a suspicious package at about 15:45 local time (20:45 GMT) on Monday. 
 
 Arriving at the scene, police discovered a device that was later confirmed by officials to have contained explosive powder and "had the components" of a bomb. It was then "proactively detonated", police said. 
 
 The FBI tweeted that it was investigating an incident in the area. 
 
 Police later confirmed that an "extensive investigation" had been opened with the FBI. 
 
 Who is Soros? 
 
 The 88-year-old Hungarian-American businessman earned his fortune through shrewd financial speculation. 
 
 He has spent billions of his own money funding human rights projects and liberal democratic ventures around the world and has been a large donor to the US Democratic Party. 
 
 He previously backed the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and labelled US President Donald Trump "an imposter". 
 
 US-based right-wing conspiracy theorists and websites have accused Mr Soros of secretly engineering a range of recent events in US and global politics. 
 
 They have alleged he was involved in recruiting crowds for the anti-Trump Women's March and even organising violence in Charlottesville to undermine the country's political right wing. 
 
 Mr Soros has also become a political target worldwide for nationalists and populists, who paint him as a master manipulator of democracy.
– Police say a suspected letter bomb was found Monday in a mailbox at a New York state home owned by billionaire George Soros—a frequent target of right-wing groups. Officials tell the New York Times that the device was "proactively detonated" by the bomb squad after an employee found it at the home in Bedford, Westchester County. "An employee of the residence opened the package, revealing what appeared to be an explosive device," police said in a statement. "The employee placed the package in a wooded area and called the Bedford police." Soros, a major donor to liberal causes and the focus of numerous conspiracy theories, was not home at the time. The FBI's New York field office said in a statement that it is "conducting an investigation at and around a residence in Bedford, NY. There is no threat to public safety, and we have no further comment at this time." Authorities have not disclosed whether the device would have exploded on its own, the AP reports. Soros, 88, has donated billions to groups including the Democratic Party and conspiracy theorists accuse of him orchestrating events including last year's violence in Charlottesville, the BBC reports. Right-wing groups have been known to share his addresses on social media. (An ally of President Trump recently claimed that Soros was funding a caravan of migrants making its way to the US border.)