Archegos Banks That Unwound Bets Face Criminal Antitrust Probe

The US Justice Department is ramping up scrutiny of banks that collectively lost billions of dollars in the collapse of Bill Hwang’s investment firm — mere months after scoring a conviction against him for deceiving those very firms.

Prosecutors in the Justice Department’s criminal antitrust division have kicked back to life a dormant probe examining how Hwang’s lenders unwound more than $150 billion in bets placed by his family office, Archegos, according to people familiar with the matter.

Since Hwang’s trial, the department’s San Francisco office has made fresh inquiries, zeroing in on emergency talks the banks held in ...