He was at the very least an intel asset of the West—and apparently with up to three services: the US, UK and Italy.
I have no idea why you would attempt to underestimate him.
Go back around to the 2006 era, and what students and peers said of his ‘performance’. He was continually downgraded and regarded as a loser in the academic field of foreign affairs. Almost every position he held over the past 20 years...he was regarded as inept at financial management, and probably soaked up funds.
In the Maltese language, there’s this word used for ‘fakers’ and fraud....”hawwadi’. Those who knew the guy...used hawwadi often in their description of him. Maybe he hinted of associations with the CIA, KGB, the Italian secret police, and MI-5....but no one has ever stood up and suggested a contract or agent status was attached to the guy. Even the Italians are careful about the way they talk about him.
The Slovenian authorities were pretty direct about his background and capabilities in 2013....writing a very harsh report on him, and noting he just didn’t have any control over finances.
Virtually every single university program would hire the guy on, and release him within two to three years (most all citing financial issues). If you were looking for ‘James Bond-agent’ status, this guy simply wasn’t it. He screwed up at every single open-door that he was given.
No one can detail where all this money went, and you are stuck thinking that either he was a massive gambler on the side, or simply lived a lavish lifestyle that was built on mostly fraud. I might even be willing to believe that he had some significant debt and he simply ran out of luck...being terminated because of the debt instead of some KGB or Hillary assassination team.