Archegos Capital Management, the $10 billion firm that collapsed spectacularly last month, never publicly disclosed any stock investments, the New York Times reported. Even for a firm whose structure and strategy came with fewer regulatory requirements, that was a remarkable achievement. Money managers with $100 million or more in stocks are generally required to declare what securities they are invested in every quarter. But Archegos, a so-called family office that managed the fortune of the former hedge fund manager Bill Hwang, did not publicly file such a document — called a 13F — in its eight-year history. The lack of a paper trail is uncommon for a firm with so much money, according to securities experts. Thomas Handler, a lawyer in Chicago whose firm does work for more than 300 family offices, said it was highly unusual for such a large firm to have never filed a 13F. Much smaller family offices routinely make such reports, he said. Archegos stayed largely under the radar until it fell apart last month. As a family office — a firm generally created to handle the investments of a single wealthy person and a small circle around them — it did not have to register as an investment adviser with the S.E.C., because it did not manage money for outsiders. Also, the firm frequently employed a kind of derivative — called a swap — that allowed it to invest heavily in the stocks of certain companies, including ViacomCBS, without owning the shares itself. But Archegos invested substantial sums in plain vanilla stocks, according to a person briefed on Mr. Hwang’s portfolio and tax filings made by the Grace and Mercy Foundation, the charity Mr. Hwang founded and supported with some of his vast wealth. When it came apart last month, Archegos had more than $100 million in stock holdings, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
