Legal
Bill Hwang Defense Faces Tough Odds as Archegos Trial Begins
- Lawyers will say he’s not responsible for counterparty actions
- Cooperating Archegos witnesses could prove devastating to him
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Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang will defend himself against fraud and market manipulation charges by making a time-honored Wall Street argument: he’s not responsible for the other side’s losses.
Wall Street banks including Credit Suisse AG, Morgan Stanley and Nomura Holdings Inc. lost some $10 billion acting as prime brokers for Hwang’s family office. At opening statements Monday in the Manhattan federal court trial of Hwang and his chief financial officer, Patrick Halligan, prosecutors will argue that the two duped the banks into fueling an epic $160 billion bubble that burst when Archegos collapsed in March 2021.