His only mistake was not drilling down to "who will I report to and what is that group doing now?" And given that this was a bait and switch, at best he would have not gotten the job, which is mostly bad if he had other possibilities.

As other have noted, he is indeed getting an education in all sorts of other things. If he could move past the lies---not saying he should either forgive or forget---and make the best out of the current mess while finding a better job quickly, months not years, he shouldn't be too bad off.