NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - Archegos Capital

Management founder Sung Kook "Bill" Hwang was convicted of fraud

and other charges by a jury in Manhattan federal court on

Wednesday at a criminal trial in which prosecutors accused him

of market manipulation ahead of the 2021 collapse of his $36

billion private investment firm.

The jury, which began deliberations on Tuesday, found Hwang

guilty on 10 of 11 criminal counts and Patrick Halligan, his

Archegos deputy and co-defendant, guilty on all three counts he

faced. Hwang and Halligan sat flanked by their lawyers as the

verdict was read by a soft-spoken foreperson.

The Archegos meltdown sent shock waves across Wall Street

and drew regulatory scrutiny on three continents. Prosecutors

have said Hwang and Halligan lied to banks in order to obtain

billions of dollars that they used to artificially pump up the

stock prices of multiple publicly traded companies. The trial

began in May.

Hwang, 60, had pleaded not guilty to one count of

racketeering conspiracy, three counts of fraud and seven counts

of market manipulation. Halligan, 47, had pleaded not guilty to

one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of fraud.

Halligan was the chief financial officer at Archegos.

They now face maximum sentences of 20 years in prison on

each charge for which they were convicted, though any sentence

would likely be much lower and would be imposed by the judge

based on a range of factors.

When the charges were brought in 2022, the U.S. Justice

Department called the case an example of its commitment to hold

accountable people who distort and defraud U.S. financial

markets.

Jurors heard closing arguments on Tuesday.

The trial centered on the implosion of Hwang's family office

Archegos, which inflicted $10 billion in losses at global banks

and, according to prosecutors, and caused more than $100 billion

in shareholder losses at companies in its portfolio. Prosecutors

said Hwang's actions harmed U.S. financial markets as well as

ordinary investors, causing significant losses to banks, market

participants and Archegos employees.

Hwang secretly amassed outsized stakes in multiple companies

without actually holding their stock, according to prosecutors.

Hwang lied to banks about the size of the derivative positions

of Archegos in order to borrow billions of dollars that he and

his deputies then used to artificially inflate the underlying

stocks, prosecutors said.

Halligan was accused by prosecutors of lying to banks and

enabling the criminal scheme.

During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew

Thomas told jurors, "By 2021, the defendants' lies and

manipulation had ensnared nearly a dozen stocks and half of Wall

Street in a $100 billion fraud, a fraud that came crashing down

in a matter of days."

Hwang's defense team painted the indictment as the "most

aggressive open market manipulation case" ever brought by U.S.

prosecutors. Hwang's attorney Barry Berke told jurors in his

closing argument that prosecutors criminalized aggressive but

legal trading methods.

Archegos head trader William Tomita and Chief Risk Officer

Scott Becker testified as prosecution witnesses after pleading

guilty to related charges and agreeing to cooperate in the case.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern

District of New York, which brought the case, Hwang's positions

eclipsed those of the companies' largest investors, driving up

stock prices. At its peak, prosecutors said Archegos had $36

billion in assets and $160 billion of exposure to equities.

When stock prices fell in March 2021, the banks demanded

additional deposits, which Archegos could not make. The banks

then sold the stocks backing Hwang's swaps, wiping out an

alleged $100 billion in value for shareholders and billions at

the banks, including $5.5 billion for Credit Suisse, now part of

UBS, and $2.9 billion for Nomura Holdings ( NMR ).