I always liked Joe and worked along side him many times and never suspected his duplicity. He later admitted to funding and assisting Donkey and I always noticed that Joe and Brandon were the only two people from the entire AIM database that didn't get a WPL page.
You say "as complicated as it gets for me" and that you take things at face value and that's why I went for the Swiss joke. (maybe complicit would have been a better word choice?)