Famous Wall Street figures who were sentenced to prison

WASHINGTON – Archegos Capital Management founder

Bill Hwang was convicted of fraud

and other charges on July 10 in a criminal trial in New York in the wake of the 2021 collapse of his US$36 billion (S$48.6 billion) private investment firm.

Each of the charges against Hwang, who had pleaded not guilty, carries a potential penalty of 20 years in prison. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Here is a look at other famous Wall Street figures who have been sentenced to prison time.

Bernard Madoff

Madoff pleaded guilty in 2009 to running the largest-known Ponzi scheme in history, estimated as high as US$64.8 billion. For decades, Madoff presented himself as a successful and trusted Wall Street kingpin, attracting high-profile and celebrity investors while secretly engaging in fraud.

Madoff died at age 82 in 2021 while serving a 150-year prison sentence.

Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX founder Bankman-Fried was

sentenced in March to 25 years in prison for stealing

US$8 billion from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange, a dramatic downfall for the former billionaire wunderkind.

While FTX, which was based in the Bahamas, was not a traditional Wall Street firm, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of old-fashioned financial fraud – using customer assets to purchase luxury properties, as well as to prop up his hedge fund and to make political donations.

Bankman-Fried appealed his conviction and prison sentence in April.

Jordan Belfort

Belfort lived a hard-partying, hedonistic lifestyle before being arrested for defrauding investors out of as much as US$200 million via his brokerage Stratton Oakmont. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering in 1999, and spent 22 months in prison.

Belfort is now a motivational speaker and media commentator, and offers sales consulting services.

Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese plumbed Belfort’s descent in the 2013 movie The Wolf Of Wall Street, which was based on Belfort’s memoir and starred actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ivan Boesky

Boesky, who helped inspire the greedy Gordon Gekko character in the 1987 movie Wall Street, spent nearly two years in prison for his role in one of Wall Street’s biggest insider trading scandals of the 1980s.

Known as “Ivan the Terrible”, Boesky speculated in takeover stocks, saying he bought stocks after formal takeover bids were announced, and his wealth was estimated at US$280 million. But the authorities said the man known for the “greed is good” ideology obtained tips from investment bankers about deals in the works, and used them illegally.

Boesky pleaded guilty in 1987 to conspiracy charges, and won leniency for cooperating with prosecutors investigating insider trading and junk bond king Michael Milken. Boesky died in May at age 87.

Michael Milken

Milken, known as the king of junk bonds, received a 10-year prison sentence in 1990 after pleading guilty to securities violations, including over his dealings with Boesky. Milken spent less than two years behind bars after a federal judge cut his sentence as a reward for cooperating with the authorities.

In 1991, Milken co-founded the non-profit Milken Institute, focusing on research including cancer, public health and ageing. Milken himself survived advanced prostate cancer. Each year, finance titans flock to the Milken Institute Global Conference, where fund managers woo prospective investors and philanthropies seek out funding.

Former US president Donald Trump pardoned Milken in 2020. REUTERS