The founder of Archegos and its former chief financial officer will not take the stand in their trial on charges they orchestrated a massive campaign to manipulate Wall Street stock prices, the pair told a Manhattan federal judge Wednesday.
Bill Hwang, who created and ran the hedge fund prior to its 2021 collapse, and former Archegos CFO Patrick Halligan informed U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein outside the presence of the jury that they will not testify in their own defense.
“I would like to not testify,” a soft-spoken Hwang told the court after being advised of his rights by the judge. Halligan similarly said, “I choose not to testify, Your Honor.”
Archegos testimony Trial : Prosecution Rests Its Case
Shortly thereafter, the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office rested its case in front of the jury midway through the seventh calendar week of the marathon trial. The decision by the two defendants not to testify puts the case on track to close after what will now be a shortened defense case expected to last approximately two to three days.
Allegations of Stock Manipulation
Along with Halligan, Hwang is accused of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy as he allegedly manipulated stocks, running up huge exposure via swaps contracts with a total of about $100 billion of exposure to risk. These bad bets heavily damaged bank counterparties as they sunk Archegos and its $36 billion of assets under management in late March 2021. Hwang and Halligan deny guilt, arguing that the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic caused Archegos’ collapse.
Archegos testimony Trial : Defense Testimony
As part of Hwang’s case, the defense called Arizona State University finance professor Sunil Wahal. His midday testimony aimed to rebut economist Carmen Taveras, a government expert who earlier in the trial testified that big-dollar market moves at the fallen hedge fund pulled share prices like a “magnet.” Wahal argued that Archegos’ trading data overall looked similar to other big-market players and did not appear unusual.
