When I prosecuted securities fraud as a Senior Trial Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), I got into what some might consider a strange habit: Trying to figure out ways in which the participants in the schemes I prosecuted could have achieved similar economic results without breaking the law by, for example, using proper documentation or disclosures.

Republished with permission from the Thomson Reuters Institute (www.thomsonreutersinstitute.com)