Sounds like a big inconvenience, did he try to change his legal name?
Edit: I have no idea why this legitimate question is being down voted. I'm not suggesting that he should change his name or even that such a solution is an acceptable state of affairs. And the replies received re:past names are furthering discussion.
Apparently AML/KYC programs do consider past names so that people can't simply change their name to avoid sanctions. But one would think if they were going into that much detail they would be able to tell that you aren't the same person as the sanctioned entity.
Edit: I have no idea why this legitimate question is being down voted. I'm not suggesting that he should change his name or even that such a solution is an acceptable state of affairs. And the replies received re:past names are furthering discussion.