Did he give false information, or no information at all?
False information, including having "review letters" from "other satisfied clients."
Wow, at the trial? Now I'm really curious. Do you know where I can find the transcript? I just completed my Law class, and it would be nice to put my new learnin' to the test
No, I'm sorry, I probably should have been more specific.
When marketing and talking to potential clients and trying to convince the clients to fork over what little money they had (remember, these were people being foreclosed on, and the fees were up to $3,000) he was lying, including about how long he'd been in business, and how many people he helped.
And if you've had some law class... Well, let me give you the exact example here with a hypothetical, but if you will pardon me for straying slightly... See,
I am in a different field for the most part and I can give you a much better example if I stick in my field. Computer programming, basic electrical engineering, logic signaling, and so on.
Let's say you come to me and ask me if I can design a custom thermostat for your house. I say, sure I can! I'm the guy who designed all of the industrial thermostats Honeywell sells. But I also tell you that some houses with old furnaces can't be interfaced to modern microcontrollers. So you give me the $5,000 I ask for, and I've put in the contract that you are agreeing that your furnace might just not be designed for what you wanted, and so I keep the $5,000 if I can't do it.
If I come to you six weeks later and say, "I'm sorry, but now that I've looked over the schematics for your furnace, I know I wouldn't be able to make a thermostat that can do what you wanted." Because of the contract, you're out of luck.
Except I've never worked for Honeywell, either directly or as a contractor. Now, if you find that out, the contract I had you sign becomes a pretty worthless piece of paper: you can prove I didn't enter into the contract in good faith. As such I may find it very difficult to convince a judge to uphold that clause.
Now assume that after you didn't get your thermostat you find out I've been going around town for months taking money for custom heating/cooling control systems... and I have never built a single one, but I have taken the money up front for every single one, and in every case simply come back and said "Oh, I'm sorry, I tried but your system isn't capable." And I have told all of these people that I have many satisfied customers, when in fact I have never built a single device. Not only can you now demonstrate I entered all those contracts in bad faith, but by pattern of behavior, you can demonstrate that my intention was to take money and do nothing whatsoever. If I cannot give you the name of a single person I delivered a completed product to, I'm not going to win the court case.