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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.

"There's no such thing as magnetism in financial markets," Wahal told the jury. "These charts say nothing about causality. It's the intersection of demand and supply — that's really all you see."

Halligan's Defense Strategy

Halligan has argued that he is being targeted with a campaign of lies by former Archegos director of risk and key government cooperator Scott Becker, who, evidence showed, hated his former boss. Another cooperating witness, former Archegos head trader William Tomita, gave lengthy and sometimes emotional testimony that largely targeted Hwang. Meanwhile, Becker told the jury that he lied to banks on the orders of Halligan.

Archegos testimony Trial : Testimony from Bankers

The trial also featured testimony from a slew of bankers who told the jury they felt like they never got a true picture of the numbers inside Archegos, a so-called family office founded by Hwang after his former hedge fund Tiger Asia closed amid criminal charges. Some bankers testified that their institutions declined to work with Archegos, while others, including former UBS risk management executive Bryan Fairbanks, said their banks lost large sums of money after engaging in swaps contracts with Hwang and company. Fairbanks stated the "lies" told by the Archegos defendants cost the bank $860 million.

Two other bankers were called over defense objections to testify that they were in meetings with Halligan in 2018 and 2020 as Archegos allegedly lied to banks. Bank of America global markets credit director Adam Lipsky and Wells Fargo Securities managing director Ben Maisel provided testimony intended to undercut Halligan's contention that Becker lied to the jury by blaming Halligan.

Prosecutor's Argument

Prior to their testimony, outside the presence of the jury, prosecutor Samuel Rothschild argued to the judge that their testimony shows Halligan was "present" as the hedge fund allegedly engineered a massive fraud. "Mr. Halligan's argument throughout this case has been that he was not aware of the lies that Mr. Becker was telling the counterparties," Rothschild said.

Archegos testimony Trial : Legal Representation

Hwang is represented by Barry Berke, Dani James, and Jordan Estes of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. Halligan is represented by Mary Mulligan and Timothy Haggerty of Friedman Kaplan Seiler Adelman & Robbins LLP. The government is represented by Matthew Podolsky, Andrew Thomas, Alexandra Rothman, and Samuel Rothschild of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.