There’s alot of detail in the article below about the goings on in the firms Bales worked for before he enlisted. Even though the writer attempts to disparage Bales to some degree it’s quite obvious that Bales was a minor player at best in a much larger criminal enterprise. He may well have had little or any knowledge of what he was involved in.
Thanks for that link, smooth. You’re probably right about his involvement. A guy with his character references going back to highschool days wouldn’t have knowingly hired on to a company like that.