There are several things that give away that he is unlikely to have been a real hedge fund manager (oh well, maybe he managed $5mm of friends and family money, but that does not make him a pro!), but what he says on the fee structure is not one of them: several hedge funds would have the standing to claim 2/20 (or even more) without hurdle rates.

A tiny fraction of hedge fund managers would be infringing any laws, if at all. Excluding the over-the-counter markets(!), the better you are as a hedge fund manager, the more you know what can make you money, what can lose you money and which of your decisions were wrong and which were right: there is no room to blame it on other people doing insider trading.