No disrespect intended, but have you ever interviewed a candidate for a position? A degree is not even close to being the most important aspect for the "winning" candidate. Everyone has a degree interviewing for his job. The guy might be an obnoxious a** h*le. Once I saw Kennedy campaign worker on a resume. There are lots of ways to blow a great opportunity.
Yes, there may be something dark in this guy’s history, but even with that he should be able to find a job in his field or get in some other line of work.
And yes, I interview people quite frequently and it is difficult to find qualified people who are willing to travel for work.
Besides being qualified, the one reason I was offered my job was that I told them I would go any place on the planet to work.