Archegos' Bill Hwang sentenced to 18 years in prison for huge US fraud

Hwang's downfall came when he was unable to meet margin calls as the prices of some of his favourite stocks began falling

Sung Kook 'Bill' Hwang arrives for his sentencing hearing at the Manhattan federal court on November 20. Getty / AFP

Former billionaire investor Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday over the collapse of Archegos Capital Management, which cost Wall Street banks more than $10 billion.

Hwang was sentenced by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan, where a jury convicted him in July on 10 criminal charges including wire fraud, securities fraud and market manipulation.

Archegos' March 2021 implosion took less than a week, stunning Wall Street and Hwang's lenders. The US Attorney's office in Manhattan sought a 21-year prison term for Hwang – unusually long for a white-collar case – and for him to forfeit $12.35 billion and make restitution to victims.

“It stands among a rare class of cases that truly could be described as a national calamity,” prosecutor Andrew Thomas said at the sentencing hearing.

Before sentencing Hwang, the judge asked the defendant's lawyer, Dani James, how she thought Hwang compared to Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from users of the now-bankrupt FTX exchange.

“Mr Bankman-Fried was literally stealing from his customers,” Ms James said. “I don't think that's what's happened here.”

Hwang had asked for no prison, forfeiture or restitution, and to remain free on bail while he appealed against his conviction. Ms James said his low risk of committing more crimes meant a lengthy prison term served no purpose.

“The notion that he would commit a crime in the future, it's just not so,” she said.

Bankman-Fried denies wrongdoing and is appealing against his conviction.

Hwang, 60, was a protege of late hedge-fund billionaire Julian Robertson. He set up Archegos in New York as a family office in 2013, the year after his former hedge fund Tiger Asia Management pleaded guilty to wire fraud in an insider-trading case.

Prosecutors accused Hwang of lying to banks about Archegos' portfolio so he could borrow money aggressively and make concentrated bets on media and technology stocks such as ViacomCBS, now called Paramount Global. While Archegos eventually managed $36 billion, Hwang's borrowing helped him amass $160 billion of exposure to stocks.

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

More than $100 billion of market value in Hwang's stocks was wiped out. Several banks suffered losses, including Credit Suisse, which lost $5.5 billion, and Nomura Holdings. Credit Suisse is now part of UBS.

Hwang's lawyers' request for no punishment also brought up Hwang's Christian faith and his non-profit Grace and Mercy Foundation, which has since 2006 donated at least $600 million to combat homelessness, poverty and human trafficking, among other causes. His lawyers have said his net worth has fallen to “at most” $55.3 million.

Hwang's co-defendant, former Archegos chief financial officer Patrick Halligan, was convicted at the same trial on three criminal charges. His sentencing is scheduled for January 27.