You lack imagination.
being on the board of directors of a problematic publisher? Given the culture into which he placed himself, he may not have shared the views of the editorial staff, but not been willing to make waves.
I mean, looking at my own life: I was on the board of directors for a mental health agency where the clinical lead was sexually abusing patients and embezzling. I was not party to, nor beneficiary of, any of that. When I, as a member of the board found out, we first made certain we had a place to transfer our non-clinical clients, then dissolved the corporation. I was not evil for being on the board; I was unaware of the behavior of the staff when I was appointed to the board. And, until the executive director/clinical lead was arrested, was unaware of his behaviors. Failure of oversight? Maybe, but HIPPA made the actual level of oversight needed to catch him problematic. The board didn't even have access to the full client list until we were dissolving.
So I'm really opposed to "Guilt by association" based claims, and the "He's smart so he can't be ignorant" argument is just plain making naughty word up. Lots of really smart people are clueless about certain aspects.