It's more complicated than just "did he commit crime" (which he did, in terms of employment - you can't pay people £0 for full time work in the UK). His actions

It's more complicated than just "did he commit crime" (which he did, in terms of employment - you can't pay people £0 for full time work in the UK). His actions were fraudulent in terms of faking so many aspects of the company and his own profile, and he misled people by guaranteeing an income at the end of the probation. He was both criminal and manipulative but I'm sure in his mind he was just working on his grindset or whatever excuse internet hustlers use for ripping people off these days.