A multi-billionaire, who’s given millions to Christian ministries and schools, is being accused of massive market manipulation at an ongoing federal criminal trial.

Bill Hwang, founder and co-CEO of Archegos Capital Management, caused a multi-billion dollar fiasco in 2021, The Roys Report (TRR) reported. He built his empire using derivatives — risky investments that speculate on which direction the market will go. When the market turned in the opposite direction of how Hwang bet, his bets wiped out $100 billion in market value in a few days. It also collapsed Archegos’s $36 billion fund.

Now, Hwang—a former trustee at Fuller Seminary and major supporter of the late Ravi Zacharias—is on trial for 11 counts of racketeering, conspiracy, and fraud in a Manhattan courtroom, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Hwang has pleaded not guilty to the charges — each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

The trial is anticipated to last eight weeks and will feature prominent Christian witnesses, including Andy Mills, the former president of embattled The King’s College, which recently halted courses and laid off faculty. Mills also served as co-CEO of Archegos.

At the heart of the trial is whether Hwang’s fiasco was fraud or just normal trading that went badly, according to Bloomberg.

Hwang is currently free on a $100 million bond, according to district court records.

Hwang accused of running ‘organized criminal enterprise’

Prosecutors have alleged Hwang has been a part of several schemes in his investing, according to an indictment.

They claim Archegos defrauded investors by manipulating, controlling, and artificially inflating the prices of securities in its portfolio. Hwang then misled investors by leading them to believe the prices were natural forces of supply and demand, prosecutors said. In reality, these prices had actually been artificially propped up in a “pump and brag scheme.”

Additionally, prosecutors claim Hwang’s business partners made false and misleading statements about its securities portfolio to secure credit from investment banks and brokerages.

During opening statements at the trial, prosecutors described how Archegos operated like an “organized criminal enterprise,” or a mob operation, Christianity Today reported.

“Bill Hwang was a billionaire and yet he risked nearly everything because he wanted more: more money, more success, more power,” Federal prosecutor Alexandra Rothman said, according to the New York Post. “To those in the know, he was a great investor. He had it all. But it wasn’t enough,”

Rothman added that Hwang was “rigging the game to keep winning on Wall Street . . . lying to dozens of banks.”

Rothman explained that Archegos had a “corrupt core, a small group of people who did whatever Hwang wanted, including lie and cheat.” She said that their market manipulation left a “path of destruction.”

In his opening statements, defense attorney Barry Berke countered by leaning into Hwang’s Christian faith. Hwang, the son of a Korean pastor, has long said his business represents his Christian faith, TRR reported.

Berke also said that his Hwang had staked his own cash on companies he believed in deeply and traded like he was prepared to lose it all, according to the New York Post.

“He had the courage of his convictions,” Berke told the jury. “He believed in these companies.”

Berke emphasized that Hwang hasn’t lived the gaudy life of a billionaire, according to Christianity Today.

Two top employees for Archegos have pleaded guilty to related charges and are star witnesses at Hwang’s trial.

This week, former chief risk officer at Archegos, Scott Becker, has been on the stand, Bloomberg reported. Prosecutors have been questioning Becker in hopes of showing that Hwang was calling the shots behind the fraud and manipulation.

Becker has told the jury that he was “directed to lie to the banks,” on Archegos’s behalf.

He also described how the company traded “nonstop, all day, every day” in 2020 and 2021. He said it got to the point that each day felt like the one before, with some greeting colleagues at the office with “Happy Groundhog Day.”

Hwang has a controversial history

The billionaire has a history of controversial actions and trading.

Hwang has been accused of helping Ravi Zacharias cover up his abuse, TRR reported. He allegedly funded Zacharias’ 2017 lawsuit against Canadian, Lori Anne Thompson, Ruth Malhotra, former public relations manager for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries said.

Additionally, in 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Hwang with making $16.7 million in illicit profits through trading schemes involving Chinese bank stocks. To settle those charges, Hwang and his firms agreed to pay $44 million.

Shortly after this, Hwang turned his hedge fund business, Tiger Asia Management, into a family office, and launched Archegos Capital Management. He named Archegos for a Greek word that was used to describe Christ as the “author” of our salvation and the “prince” of life, according to Christianity Today.

Hwang and his wife, Becky, previously ran a foundation, called the Grace and Mercy Foundation, that annually gave away millions to dozens of Christian ministries. The foundation had donated to organizations including Fuller Seminary, The King’s College, International Justice Mission, Museum of the Bible, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Recently, Hwang had commissioned a massive piece of art to depict his beliefs, Bloomberg reported. The picture shows the blood of Christ washing over a gray New York City skyline, “cleansing the great metropolis of its sins.”

Freelance journalist Liz Lykins writes for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.