Sam Bankman-Fried’s Get Rich Blitz Ensnares Clients Across Asia

In Japan, the logo spelling F-T-X was plastered on a billboard next to the face of star baseball player Shohei Ohtani.

In China, social media influencers peppered followers with sponsored posts pointing them to the platform and its frizzy-haired founder. In late October, just days before FTX’s spectacular collapse, Sam Bankman-Fried himself spoke at a Hong Kong conference organized by the local government.

Sam Bankman-Fried in Hong Kong in May 2021.

Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg

Like in the US, legions of people in East Asia were drawn to Bankman-Fried’s righteous nerd-of-the-people veneer. SBF had been a trader himself, some reasoned. He had the textbook look and feel of a tech ...