actually, there's an easy solution: if your friend wants to "dump this crap", he can call his broker and ask them to liquidate his position as a "worthless security". then he can claim the loss on his 2015 taxes, since the cutoff for a tax loss ended just recently.
He told me again today that his shares are still unconverted and showing up under a number instead of a ticker and he still can't dump this crap.