Was she lying? Not really. The FAA doesn't regulate number of carry-ons (just where they are stored), but interfering with the duties of a flight crew is a federal offense. If the flight attendant requested/demanded that the pax check one of his carry-on items, and he refused, he would be interfering with the duties of a flight crew. Ok, ok, we could argue semantics and argue over whether the FA was saying that the man was breaking a FAA reg by bringing aboard all those carry-ons or if he was breaking the reg by not listening to the FA who told him not to bring on all those carry on items, but in the big picture does it make a differnece? We know every intricacy over every little rule that sometimes we get a huge kick when someone who should know as much as we do doesn't. Does it make a difference? Just in my opinion.