Surrogate end-point
As several have commented: He convinced advertisers that he could get them more ad views than other, real ad-brokers. Because (they thought) they were measuring ad views rather than increased sales they were duped. In drug development the concept is often referred to as a surrogate end-point eg measuring a drug's ability to lower blood pressure but ignoring (or explaining away) the lack of improvement in death rate.
Con-artists hate being conned - it's a shame they're allowed to drag this sort of thing into law courts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
