It may be just my way of thinking, but assuming these reports have substance, I can't help but pity the man.

Seems to me (and those who actually knew him may of course correct me) that JS had a dreadful flaw in what was an otherwise caring nature. That is, unless his charity work was nothing but a popularity-boosting false front.

Hasn't each one of us, sometime in our lives, been in a position where the only thing keeping us back from doing something we knew we shouldn't, was the certainty of being found out and being made to suffer the consequences? It was his bad luck to be susceptible to a particular temptation, and also to have abilities that put him in a position where he could yield to that temptation with relative impunity. It was his eternal disgrace to have ever done so.

I see him as one who had the potential to be the caring person he was recognized for, but blew it. Sad, really.