It’s not illegal, just highly unethical. It’s also not true, he does not know someone doing this.
In your example, the "ethical" way to violate a non-compete is to redact it from the original contract.
I'm not saying you're the worst person ever, but littering is unethical, and so is saying you'll do something and then not doing it (or vice versa).
I don't see the ethical quandaries though. So long as one is doing the work promised, and the company is satisfied with their output. It's not any more unethical than working on any other side project after hours.
Sure, if you lose you probably just end up paying money. But lots of "real" crimes have punishments that amount to paying some fines but no jail time.
It's funny, when this topic comes up, the people that are juggling multiple jobs are usually stuck in this weird place where they want to convince people it's true but at the same time not draw too much attention to it (for obvious reasons).
And a lot of this comes from people who are far less wordly than they think they are. Like there are people that genuinely believe that no one in security makes more than $200k except CISOs.
I understand it's entirely possible to juggle two remote jobs, I just don't think it's nearly as common as people claim or think, which is why it's an easy lie to make. It's got nothing to do with the total salaries involved, and everything to do with the exceedingly rare nature of the claim.
I know a guy who overlapped months of two different jobs.
So it exists and happens. And for IC-type positions should be even easier.
