Sam Bankman-Fried could face years in prison over FTX’s $32 billion meltdown — if the U.S. ever gets around to arresting him

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO of FTX — the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange that was worth $32 billion a few weeks ago — has a real knack for self-promotional PR. For years, he cast himself in the likeness of a young boy genius turned business titan, capable of miraculously growing his crypto empire as other players got wiped out. Everyone from Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists to A-list celebrities bought the act.

But during Bankman-Fried’s press junket of the last few weeks, the onetime wunderkind has spun a new narrative – one in which...