I agree with all of that, but there's also the idea that once the government decides you're guilty, they will find something. There's so many laws, and they are so complex, that's it's not hard for them to do so.
So I'd add a little more to your advice to resign if asked to do something illegal. If your company, or industry, seems to be the new whipping post for some Federal agency, consider a new place. Assuming you're in a spot that could be a scapegoat.
> I agree with all of that, but there's also the idea that once the government decides you're guilty, they will find something.
I don't think the government had any vendetta against this particular person. (ie: Martin Skherli) However, she was probably investigated for money matters (ie: her tax reports) as she probably was shadier than Ben would like to admit.
I'm pretty sure the article is talking about backdating options.
Looking at https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/optionsbackdating.htm the person being talked about likely didn't have any sense it was happening, but it did become pretty clear, later (2006/7) that the SEC was on the warpath about it.
Actually I couldn't find any reliable source to attribute this quote (or something similar) to neither Beria, Andriey Wyszynski, Cardinal Richelieu, nor Quintilian.
So I'd add a little more to your advice to resign if asked to do something illegal. If your company, or industry, seems to be the new whipping post for some Federal agency, consider a new place. Assuming you're in a spot that could be a scapegoat.