Bloomberg Law
April 27, 2022, 2:19 PM

Bill Hwang Was a $20 Billion Whale, Then Lost It All in Two Days (Repeat)

Erik Schatzker
Erik Schatzker
Bloomberg News
Sridhar Natarajan
Sridhar Natarajan
Bloomberg News
Katherine Burton
Katherine Burton
Bloomberg News

(This story was originally published on April 8, 2021. Today, Archegos founder Bill Hwang and CFO Patrick Halligan were arrested and chargedwith 11 criminal counts,
including racketeering conspiracy and securities fraud. Federal prosecutors said Hwang used Archegos as an “instrument of market manipulation and fraud,” inflating its portfolio from $1.5 billion to $35 billion before its spectacular collapse, causing massive losses for banks and investors.)

Before he lost it all—all $20 billion—Bill Hwang was the greatest trader you’d never heard of.

Starting in 2013, he parlayed more than $200 million left over from his shuttered hedge fund into ...