Consider a possible alternate scenario:

Berwick is well-traveled and made connections in many places. He realized many people want citizenship in multiple countries and as an entrepreneur, he wanted to find a way to capitalize on that demand.

In his travels, he started talking to people about ways to fast-track citizenship in that country. Some people he spoke to about this saw an opportunity to con people out of money. They told Berwick "You know I hold this government position. I have the connections to get people citizenship in four weeks. Simply pay (bribe) me $10,000 per person, and I'll expedite that citizenship process."

Berwick then turned that into a business. He decided he'd charge people $15,000, and send the $10,000 bribe to the individual. With the remaining $5,000, he'd have to pay some overhead and the rest would be profit.

Things didn't go as planned. It turned out people were conning him. Or perhaps, the people he was in contact with were being misled by someone else in the transaction chain. At the end of the day, he's the public face of the business, so he gets blamed for stealing people's money.

I think a situation like this one is far more likely than him straight-up lying to and conning people.