888 7th Ave, a building that reportedly houses Archegos Capital is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 29, 2021.
888 7th Ave, a building that reportedly houses Archegos Capital is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 29, 2021. Reuters / CARLO ALLEGRI

Federal prosecutors have charged Archegos Capital Management owner Bill Hwang and the family office's former chief financial officer, Patrick Halligan, with racketeering and fraud, according to an indictment released Wednesday.

Prosecutors said that Hwang and Halligan "corrupted the operations and activities" and activities of the family office to manipulate the price of stocks it held and lie to banks and brokerages.

Archegos, a family office run by former Tiger Asia manager Hwang, defaulted on margin calls in March of last year, leaving banks nursing heavy losses and sparking a fire sale of shares including ViacomCBS and Discovery Inc.

The blowup cost big global banks including Credit Suisse, Nomura Holdings, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank more than $10 billion in losses.

Attorney information for the two men was not immediately available.