In 2012, New York-based hedge fund Tiger Asia Management pleaded guilty to using inside information to trade Chinese bank stocks, resulting in a massive settlement with US regulators.
It marked a fall from grace for its founder Bill Hwang, one of the so-called “Tiger Cub” veterans of Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management fund.
In theory Hwang might have found himself permanently blacklisted by investment banks everywhere. But just 12 months after he was forced to return money to investors, Hwang was back in the game. He set up a secretive new family office called Archegos Capital Management. And soon many of the world’s top investment banks were fiercely competing for its business.