Hwang trial: Street ‘tricked’

Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang tried to trick all of Wall Street, a federal prosecutor told a Manhattan federal jury, as his trial on charges stemming from the 2021 collapse of Hwang’s $36 billion fund Archegos Capital Management began on Monday.

Prosecutors say Hwang (right) lied to Wall Street banks to secure billions of dollars of funding he used to inflate stock prices. Former Archegos Chief Financial Officer Patrick Halligan, who is also on trial, enabled the scheme, they claim.

Archegos’ collapse caused more than $100 billion in shareholder losses at companies in its portfolio, harming investors who sold shares after their scheme collapsed, prosecutors also allege.

Hwang and Halligan have pleaded not guilty.

Assistant US Attorney Alexandra Rothman told the jury that Hwang sought to become a Wall Street legend by pumping the value of his holdings through manipulative trading, turning Archegos into a criminal enterprise.

“Bill Hwang was a billionaire and yet he risked nearly everything because he wanted more: more money, more success, more power,” she said.

Hwang’s attorney Barry Berke told jurors that his client staked his own cash on companies he believed in deeply, trading like he was prepared to lose it all.