Skip to content
Businessweek
The Big Take

Wall Street Isn’t Ready for the Crackdown Coming Its Way

Federal investigations into questionable trading practices are on the rise—and the fate of Bill Hwang and his firm, Archegos, may await others in the finance industry.

Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang outside a federal courthouse in New York on April 27.

Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang outside a federal courthouse in New York on April 27.

Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg
Updated on

Bill Hwang’s lawyers couldn’t believe it.

The fallen billionaire investor was sitting in federal custody in Manhattan, less than 48 hours after his legal team had visited prosecutors to talk them out of criminal charges. The effort seemed to be going well until the feds scooped up Hwang at daybreak on April 27 to face 11 felony charges—and potentially, the rest of his life in prison. “In no event was an arrest necessary,” his attorneys said in a statement expressing frustration that morning, noting Hwang had been voluntarily answering the government’s questions for months.