Seems far fetched to me. More like an engineering issue that didn't translate well in real world manufacturing. Everyone makes mistakes.The cumulative probability of a dozen repeatedly flawed MBPs to one buyer would seem to essentially be statistically impossible. Not that flaws do not get past QC, but rather that repeated QC issues to a single buyer almost guarantee that something other than poor factory QC is going on. Because like others noted, poor Apple factory QC would already have set the internet on fire.
If I was the Apple QA/QC manager involved I would be investigating details of the distribution channel to that specific buyer; perhaps criminals swapping (stolen) QC rejects for new items or whatever scam such miscreants dream up. One would think Apple's apparent tight attention to serial numbers would limit such scams, but who knows?