It's a concern, but this concern has no place in business. What's happening in a marriage is not our problem. So yes, it's definitely more a north american thing (and I'm in a long term, married relationship, so you last sentence definitely shows how immature your views are).
"Yes, he has a long string of theft convictions, cheats at cards, and beats his wife, but I am totally surprised that he defrauded our company for millions of dollars..."
It is not a north american thing, it is a character thing.
I am pretty sure that "beating his wife" is criminal in most countries while "sleeping with someone that is not his wife" is not.
You are doing a lot of work blurring the difference here.
You're substituting different actions. There's no reasonable justification for "beats his wife". "Sleeping with someone who isn't their wife" could have justifications - you don't know anything about their marriage.