I've talked to Bruce and watched his show several times, and he is a really nice guy.... From my personal experience, it seems unlikely that he is the conman everyone is claiming him to be. He has a very open and honest character... Not at all 'shady' IMO.
Are you serious? You can't think of any reason why a con man(who makes a living on getting people to trust him with their money and well-being) seems like a really nice guy? A con man who seems shady isn't a very good one. And he was a good one, no idea how much he got but he was ordered to pay back over 350k so it was a lot.