Bill Hwang, Wall St. Investor In Major Media Stocks, Guilty Of Fraud And Market Manipulation

A jury in New York has found Wall Street investor Sung Kook ‘Bill’ Hwang guilty of fraud and market manipulation.

The jury found Hwang guilty on 10 of 11 criminal counts after beginning deliberations Tuesday afternoon. Hwang’s co-defendant and deputy, Patrick Halligan, was also found guilty

Hwang’s family office, Archegos, lied to banks to conceal massive stock purchases to artificially inflate stock values. Hwang’s firm had positions in stocks like ViacomCBS, Tencent, and Discovery.

Federal prosecutors said Hwang and some of his employees had misled the banks about the big positions that Archegos amassed in about a dozen stocks. Federal prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office accused Hwang of driving up prices in a handful of media and tech stocks in Archegos’s portfolio.

The sudden collapse in 2021 of Archegos caused losses in the billions for the banks that backed his firm’s trading.

Hwang, age 60, could get 20 years on each count. Sentencing has been scheduled for October 28. Both men will remain free on bail.

Hwang’s lawyers argued that his trading instructions were legal and didn’t amount to market manipulation.