Stock traders go on trial in multibillion dollar collapse of Archegos fund

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal jury in Manhattan is set to hear the criminal case against Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang and his former financial officer, Patrick Halligan. Both have pleaded not guilty to charges that they lied to banks and brokerages, enabling their private investment firm to grow its portfolio from $10 billion to $160 billion. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said they used secret and risky derivative securities to manipulate the market in ways that nearly jeopardized the U.S. financial system. Prosecutors claimed that the hedge fund lied to get billions of dollars in loans and then used the money to inflate stocks of publicly traded companies.