Nick is your classic, successful psychopath. You see it a lot in career paths such as law and finance. If you're able to master being superficially charming like Nick had, you are in a great place to manipulate the people around you to think you're a decent person. This is why everyone he knows is falling over themselves to say how good a guy he is, what a shame it is this happened, and pray for his recovery.
I'll just ask anyone who does think that Nick is just an unfortunate man who fell into the wrong behaviours to think very hard whether they have seen him exhibit the following traits, as per the DSM-V clinical criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder (aka psychopathy/sociopath) :
- Failure to conform to social norms concerning lawful behaviors, such as performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
- Deceitfulness, repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for pleasure or personal profit.
- Impulsivity or failure to plan.
- Irritability and aggressiveness, often with physical fights or assaults.
- Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others.
- Consistent irresponsibility, failure to sustain consistent work behavior, or honor monetary obligations.
- Lack of remorse, indifference to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person.
Oh wait, it's all of them, he does all of that.