It will have zero affect on the field. What would have been damaging is if these claims had gone unchallenged leading other researchers down false paths. Fortunately, science is self correcting since every published paper is immediately subject to peer review.

Why a man with the respect of his colleagues, a promising career, and the certain knowledge that his fraud would be quickly discovered, did such a thing is the real mystery here. This has happened from time to time throughout the history of science, and the result for the perpetrator is always the same.