If there's a shred of truth to the story, I can only see two scenarios. 1 - The hiring manager had to put in a lot of effort budget-wise to make the flying in

If there's a shred of truth to the story, I can only see two scenarios. 1 - The hiring manager had to put in a lot of effort budget-wise to make the flying in happen and when he found out it was more of a complete failure than a rubber stamp, he had to save face. 2 - The candidate dramatically misrepresented themselves and lied to get in the door. Especially in the case of a cash limited start up, that could hurt - even more so if the story about high air fares due to location is true. Either way, I think it's a lie, or at minimum the candidate isn't being entirely up front.