Hedge fund operators go on trial after multibillion-dollar Archegos collapse
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal fraud trial has begun for the owner and chief financial officer of a hedge fund that collapsed. The downfall of Archegos Capital Management cost leading global investment banks and brokerages billions of dollars. Fund founder Bill Hwang and his former financial officer, Patrick Halligan, have pleaded not guilty. They’re charged with using secret derivatives trades to manipulate the market and grow the fund’s portfolio to $160 billion. A prosecutor told jurors in Manhattan that the two men made fraud their business and built “a house of cards on manipulation and lies.” Hwang’s attorney said prosecutors would be proven wrong. Halligan’s lawyer said her client was an innocent accountant.
