According to Odaily Planet Daily, Bill Hwang, the founder of Archegos Asset Management, was criminally charged for his company's bankruptcy in 2021. After a two-month trial, a US jury convicted Bill Hwang and co-defendant, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Halligan. Bill Hwang pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud, three counts of fraud, and seven counts of market manipulation, but was convicted of 10 of the 11 charges. Each charge convicted carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Bill Hwang secretly accumulated huge stakes in multiple companies without actually holding the stocks. Archegos' market position once swelled to $160 billion because they adopted a deceptive trading strategy that concealed their true size from the market. Archegos collapsed in March 2021, causing more than $10 billion in losses to counterparties including Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley and Nomura, laying the groundwork for Credit Suisse's bankruptcy.