I don't assume it: I happen to know it. (I accept, of course, that you don't.)
I don't disagree with your general attitude toward "vendors" at all, and am well aware that it's very often completely valid and correct.
I also think that in Al's case the position is fairly clear. His previous career, at least, is a matter of public record, and nobody with a big family to support gives up a career like that without a more successful alternative one. And then there's the little matter that so many trading forums are full of people like myself attributing their own success in some large part to Al's teaching, all the glowing reviews of his books at Amazon, and so on. To someone not closed-minded, it's pretty easily apparent that he's very much one of the "good guys" - but all that's just my own opinion; yours, of course, is different.