Archegos’s Bill Hwang sentenced to 18 years in prison for massive US deception | Crime News

Hwang had been convicted in July on 10 criminal accuses including wire and securities deception, labelet manipulation.

Former billionaire spendor Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang has been sentenced to 18 years in prison over the collapse of Archegos Capital Management, which cost Wall Street prohibitks more than $10bn.

Hwang was sentenced on Wednesday by United States Dicut offe Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan, where a jury convicted Hwang in July on 10 criminal accuses including wire deception, securities deception and labelet manipulation.

“The amount of losses that were caused by your direct are huger than any other losses I have dealt with,” Hellerstein shelp before announcing the sentence.

Archegos’s March 2021 implosion took less than a week, stunning Wall Street and Hwang’s lfinishers.

The US Attorney’s office in Manhattan sought a 21-year prison term for Hwang – unusuassociate prolonged for a white-collar case – and for him to forfeit $12.35bn and produce restitution to victims.

“It stands among a unfrequent class of cases that truly could be depictd as a national calamity,” prosecutor Andrew Thomas shelp at the sentencing hearing before Hellerstein.

Hellerstein did not accomplish a decision on Wednesday on whether Hwang must forfeit money or pay restitution. The sentencing hearing is foreseeed to resume on Thursday.

Before sentencing Hwang, Hellerstein asked the deffinishant’s lawyer, Dani James, how she thought Hwang contrastd to Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison for stealing $8bn from users of the now-prohibitkrupt FTX exalter.

“Mr Bankman-Fried was literassociate stealing from his customers,” James shelp. “I don’t skinnyk that’s what’s happened here.”

Hwang had asked for no prison, forfeiture or restitution, and to remain free on bail while he pguideed his conviction. James shelp his low danger of pledgeting more crimes unbenevolentt a lengthy prison term served no purpose.

“The notion that he would pledge a crime in the future, it’s equitable not so,” James shelp.

Bankman-Fried denies wrongdoing and is pguideing his conviction.

Aggressive borrotriumphg

Hwang, 60, was a protege of procrastinateed hedge-fund billionaire Julian Robertson.

He set up Archegos in New York as a family office in 2013, the year after his createer hedge fund Tiger Asia Management pguideed culpable to wire deception in an insider trading case.

Prosecutors accused Hwang of lying to prohibitks about Archegos’s portfolio so he could borrow money opposingly and produce honestd bets on media and technology stocks such as ViacomCBS, now called Paramount Global.

While Archegos eventuassociate regulated $36bn, Hwang’s borrotriumphg helped him amass $160bn of expocertain to stocks.

His downdescend occurred when Hwang was unable to greet margin calls, as the prices of some of his favourite stocks began descending and various prohibitks unloaded stocks that had backed his so-called total return swaps.

More than $100bn of labelet appreciate in Hwang’s stocks was wiped out. Several prohibitks suffered losses, including Credit Suisse, which lost $5.5bn, and Nomura Hgreaterings. Credit Suisse is now part of UBS.

Hwang’s lawyers’ seek for no punishment also cited Hwang’s Christian faith and his nonprofit Grace and Mercy Foundation, which has, since 2006, gived at least $600m to combat homelessness, pobviousy and human illegal trading, among other causes.

In a statement to the court before Hellerstein proclaimd the sentence, Hwang shelp he hoped the punishment would “permit me to serve as much as I can given the circumstances”.

Hwang’s lawyers have shelp his net worth has descenden to “at most” $55.3m.

Hwang’s co-deffinishant, createer Archegos Chief Financial Officer Patrick Halligan, was convicted at the same trial on three criminal accuses. His sentencing is scheduled for January 27. Both chose not to testify at their two-month trial.