>was able to go online and show us several >sites that were doing this technique and >were at the top of their respective keyword >lists in the search engines.
He should give up webmastery and become a politician, dancing the issue like that :-) What did he have to say about YOUR site? Did you ask him? I bet that wasn't at the top of any listings.
As Max says, chances are that these other sites had good listings *despite* their dubious tactics, and will probably disappear next time the robots visit.