According to Odaily, Bill Hwang, the founder of Archegos Capital Management, has been found guilty of multiple charges related to fraud and market manipulation. The verdict came after a two-month trial that concluded on Wednesday. Hwang, 60, was charged alongside co-defendant and CFO Patrick Halligan. Despite pleading not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, three counts of fraud, and seven counts of market manipulation, ten out of the eleven charges were upheld.
Hwang now faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the upheld charges, although the actual sentences could be significantly less. Prosecutors claimed that Hwang secretly amassed substantial shares in multiple companies without actually owning the stocks. Archegos' market position once inflated to $160 billion due to their deceptive trading strategy, which concealed their true scale from the market. By using borrowed funds and derivatives that did not require public reporting, Hwang and his hedge fund were able to remain anonymous.
Archegos collapsed in March 2021, leading to a rush on Wall Street to liquidate positions related to the firm. When the dust settled, trading counterparts including Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley, and Nomura suffered losses exceeding $10 billion. This incident also laid the groundwork for the bankruptcy of Credit Suisse.