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Former Wall Street investor, Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison in a massive fraud case that cost banks billions of dollars.<\/p>\n
The sentence comes after Hwang was found guilty of fraud and market manipulation in a case linked to the failure of his investment fund Archegos Capital Management in 2021.<\/p>\n
“The amount of losses that were caused by your conduct are larger than any other losses I have dealt with,” US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said before announcing the sentence, in quotes cited by Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n
The prison term was slightly shorter than the 21-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors, but is still unusually long for a white-collar crime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Prosecutors had also been seeking a restitution payment but the judge has not announced his decision on the matter. The sentencing hearing is set to resume on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Hwang was found guilty of lying to major investment banks as he secretly amassed large bets on several companies.<\/p>\n
When Archegos was unable to repay its lenders, it prompted a mass sell-off of stocks and the fund quickly collapsed in less than a week, making it one of the largest hedge fund collapses since the 2008 financial crisis.<\/p>\n
Among the major banks that suffered huge losses as a result of Archegos’ implosion were Credit Suisse, which has since become a part of UBS, Japan’s Nomura and Morgan Stanley.<\/p>\n
Hwang’s lawyers had called for him not to be punished, citing his Christian faith and his donations to charity. <\/p>\n
They also said his wealth, which at one point was valued at an estimated $30bn (\u00a323.7bn), had fallen to an estimated $55m.<\/p>\n
The judge called the requests for leniency “utterly ridiculous” due to the money involved and compared Hwang to the disgraced founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, who received a 25-year sentence for fraud last year<\/a>, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Hwang’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.<\/p>\n Hwang’s deputy at Archegos and co-defendant, Patrick Halligan, who was also found guilty on three criminal charges at the same trial, is set to be sentenced at a hearing scheduled for 27 January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n