Engine Warped crankshaft causing timing issue?

A buddy of mine was finally able to send his car to a garage due to it running rough and shutting off and refusing to turn back on at random over the past year now. The garage reported that the crankshaft was broken (I'm imagining it's warped ever so slightly or something) so the timing was off. I have never heard of anything like that before and all I can find on Google is "how to tell you have a failing crankshaft position sensor." No articles with "timing" and "crankshaft" together, so I wanted to ask if any of you have run into something like this?

My other friend and I are sharing the same confusion on how a bad crank could cause a timing issue. We assume the belt is still fine, but for a warp to cause a slip is what we're lost on. I'm guessing it could happen, but how is beyond my knowledge. It runs fine when it runs fine. It will just decide to shut off and not start at times, and the (bad) solution is to just keep turning it until it feels like running.

Keep in mind, my friend who's car is in the shop is NOT a car guy. He's just repeating what he was told by the garage and said"I either have to replace the engine, have the engine torn apart completely, or just buy a new car" so I'm taking what he said with a grain of salt.

Your pfp and your statement fit hand in hand too well.

Chrysler Sebring. My bad, I should have mentioned that.
Edit: Thanks for pointing out all the other things that could be the root cause. I don't know about getting it taken to another garage though because he'd have to tow it away or keep cranking it hoping it will spur to life yet again, but I'm not gonna speak for what he might do. I can only assume.

What I'm thinking is the timing belt is just slipping out of place and that's it (absolute nonsense theory probably). There's clearly a timing issue but a crank issue? It'd help if they specified what "broke" about it.

ANOTHER EDIT: I just was told the computer is kicking back a "crankshaft out of sync" error. When the engine is hot it'll turn over no problem. It's when it's cold that it won't start. Not sure how this correlates to it dying while driving if it runs fine for a long time, then just conks out. The cost to repair is too great, so he's gonna trade in for a new car. Tbh he's due for a new one for how often it gets stuck in the shop.

Engine. If it's morning and he goes to start it he has to keep turning it over until it starts to cycle normally, but even then it's running rough. Sorta reminiscent to when I had an ignition failure and replaced my packs, cables, and plugs, but once it sits for a few minutes and warms up it runs fine. You can even turn it off and back on no problem. BUT it has shut off on him while driving 3 times if I recall, and every time he was driving at highway speeds and it just gives up. He's able to pull over and just start it again, though.

Perhaps the keyway on the crank (or corresponding gear) is worn allowing the timing to slip around... I have heard of that happening before.