Christian Billionaire Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Massive Economic Fraud
A self-professing Christian Billionaire whose Grace and Mercy Foundation donated over $600 million to various Christian ministries has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after being found guilty of securities fraud, wire fraud, racketeering, and market manipulation.
Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, 60, is a wealthy evangelical who ran the now-defunct Archegos Capital Management investing firm. According to Bloomberg, Hwang was found guilty of “orchestrating a scheme to mislead his bank counterparties into providing Archegos with billions of dollars in a trading capacity that inflated the value of his portfolio until the bubble burst in March 2021.”
That bubble bursting caused his firm to lose $36B and the banks that helped him lose $10B, resulting in $100B in stock market value being erased from companies he was invested in
Prosecutors were asking Hwang to be sentenced to 21 years in prison and repay over $12B in restitution, but his lawyers were seeking no jail time and insisted that his personal net worth was “at most” $55M.
Groups that Hwang’s foundation previously donates to include Fuller Theological Seminary, the Museum of the Bible, Hope for New York, Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, and other missionary organizations.
About Author
