Lots of people do bad things, most bad people have friends, many of whom are either too naive or too lonely to be picky. He treated me well and taught me a lot about tech in the 90s. It was not easy to find mentors/like minded people (tech, not fraud) where I lived at the time, so the criminal aspect was regrettable. As an adult I look back and am so disappointed that he didn't do something legitimate, he was a top notch sysadmin, and was great with customers (I mean, that's how scams work) - he could have been much more enriched by going legit. He rightfully ended up in prison for about 14 years, maybe more? But yes, a friend.