A billionaire who claimed to be a devout Christian and was one of the evangelical world’s biggest benefactors was found guilty Wednesday in New York City of massive securities fraud and alleged market manipulation. wiped $100 billion off the global market.
According to The. Associated Press.
Hwang was acquitted of one count of market manipulation that applied to a stock, but he could spend the rest of his life in federal prison. Patrick Halligan, who served as Archego’s former chief financial officer, was also convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud.
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Prosecutors at the US Department of Justice alleged that Hwang and his associates illegally manipulated the prices of publicly traded securities and engaged in a scheme to defraud major global investment banks and brokerages to increase the portfolio of from 10 billion dollars to 160 billion dollars.
They alleged that Hwang defrauded banks about Archego’s substantial holdings of approximately 12 shares, as The New York Times noted. According to prosecutors, they achieved this by using complex derivatives and loans.
While Hwang’s attorney maintained that his client was a high-risk, aggressive investor who invested in stocks he thought would do well, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a press conference after Hwang’s arrest in April 2022 that his actions “nearly endangered our financial system.”
“But last year, the music stopped,” Williams said. “The bubble burst. Prices fell. And when they fell, billions of dollars of capital evaporated almost overnight.”
When the firm collapsed in 2021, Hwang hemorrhaged $10 billion over 10 days, which also weighed on shares of investment banks Nomura in Japan and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, according to The Wall Street Journal. UBS and Morgan Stanley also suffered losses.
The global market also saw around $100 billion disappear.
After this week’s ruling, Williams alleged that both Hwang and Halligan “lied about Archego’s positions in these companies and virtually every other material investment metric banks would use in determining the firm’s creditworthiness.”
Their lies allowed them to “fraudulently inflate a $1.5 billion portfolio into a $36 billion portfolio,” he added.
Archegos was named for a Greek word meaning “prince” used in the New Testament to describe Jesus Christ.
Before his financial ruin, Hwang had helped create the Grace and Mercy Foundation, which reportedly had more than $500 million in assets at its peak, according to Reuters. He had also served as a trustee at Fuller Theological Seminary.
The foundation contributed to prominent evangelical organizations such as Focus on the Family, the late Tim Keller Redemptorist Presbyterian Church in New York City, the Museum of the Bible, King’s College, Ravi Zacharias Ministries, and others.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com