Billionaire Mike Novogratz says he would work 24x7 to cover Bill Hwang's $30 billion hedge fund liquidation if he were an investigative reporter

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Billionaire Mike Novogratz says he would work 24x7 to cover Bill Hwang's $30 billion hedge fund liquidation if he were an investigative reporter
Mike Novogratz.Reuters/Rick Wilking
  • Billionaire Mike Novogratz seems to be especially curious about Archegos boss Bill Hwang's personal wealth.
  • He said he would work 24x7 to cover the hedge fund manager's story if he were a reporter.
  • Hwang is a former hedge fund mogul whose family office is at the center of a massive selling-spree.
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Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz tweeted on Monday that he would work round the clock to furnish details on former Tiger "cub" trader Bill Hwang's $30 billion hedge fund liquidation if he was an investigative reporter.

"When the facts come out, my sense is the Bill Hwang blow up will be the most spectacular personal loss of wealth in history," the CEO of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital said in a tweet. "If I was an investigative reporter, I'd be working 24-7 since this is cover story material. How he quietly got so rich and how fast it all disappeared."

Billionaire Mike Novogratz says he would work 24x7 to cover Bill Hwang's $30 billion hedge fund liquidation if he were an investigative reporter
@novogratz/Twitter

Hwang's Archegos Capital Management caused a massive selling-spree worth more than $20 billion on Friday, according to Bloomberg. The fund had accumulated large positions in ViacomCBS and in multiple Chinese tech companies, mostly with borrowed money.

But trouble began brewing when the prices of ViacomCBS and the fund's other large holdings fell, triggering its lenders to demand cash to cover its bets. When the banks began to doubt the fund's ability to pay, they forced it to kick off a multibillion-dollar sale of shares to cover any losses. The involuntary selling caused even steeper drops in the prices of those shares that were involved, including ViacomCBS, Discovery, FarFetch, GSX, IQ, Tencent Music, Baidu, and Vipshops.

After the sell-off, Japanese conglomerate Nomura and Credit Suisse warned of large losses after the hedge fund defaulted on its margin call.

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Archegos manages the personal wealth of Bill Hwang, who previously worked at one of the earliest hedge funds - Tiger Management. He pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2012 on US charges of wire fraud, according to Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs had even refused to work with him at one point, but changed its mind only about three years ago for unclear reasons, Bloomberg said. The bank has told clients that it expects Archegos-related losses to be immaterial, Bloomberg cited a source with knowledge of the matter as saying.

Some banks banned trading globally with Hwang after his settlement with US regulators in 2012. He was also banned from trading Hong Kong in 2014, the Financial Times reported.

Archegos reportedly had $10 billion in assets under management last week.

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