"Also, my client's financial consultant from his employer insisted that he could contribute an additional $6,500"

Well, if you read many posts on this forum, these "financial consultants" seem to be so uniformed, it's ridiculous. Now that they know this, they would be cautious to believe this person going forward. And I would ask my employer to find a new plan consultant. I was a benefits manager and when we shopped for plans, one of the consultants kept spelling many employees' names wrong, even after going over it in person. if you can't spell our names right, how can we trust you with our money?