"He said he was aware of the violations"
So, your friend willfully and knowingly violated the guidelines?
So, your friend willfully and knowingly violated the guidelines?
The Reconsideration Request is _explicitly_ for use by people who knowingly broke Webmaster Guidelines or (as in this case) who used the same (albeit spammy) techniques that loads of other people were involved with and then later realized that these were outside the guidelines.