I believe what so many of us here are trying to say is that it was not a "situation that was presented to him". Far from it. Almost certainly he has laundered money for other penny stock criminals before the FBI came calling, and it was business as usual for him. The FBI did not "present it to him", but just appeared to be another customer for his ongoing services. More likely, he presented it to the FBI. Not the other way around.
Again, the FBI does not pick lawyers at random out of the phone book and see if they will do something illegal. They already know before they start the process that person is conducting illegal activities.