Scott London, the former KPMG audit partner who pleaded guilty to insider trading in June 2013, is still set to participate in a June 27, 2014 webcast on accounting ethics before he heads off to prison on July 18. For those who cannot wait until then, however, MarketWatch recently interviewed London for this article that sheds some light on why London did what he did--and how it might have been avoided.

It is worth reading the entire interview, but here are a few of the highlights:

London believes he would not have engaged in his illegal insider trading scheme had he paused to think about the impact getting caught would have on "the innocent – the unintended victims like family and friends." He says that "if I had any idea of the magnitude of impact of crossing that line between right and wrong, for family and clients, I don't know how I would have done it."

London says that his participation in the scheme was not the result of things happening so fast that he got caught up in it, but rather that they developed so slowly. His friend and fellow defendant in the case, Bryan Shaw, started off asking him for public information, and then gradually started asking for non-public information.

Not surprisingly, London and Shaw haven't seen or spoken to each other since Shaw cooperated in the FBI sting that caught London receiving cash from Shaw in a parking lot.

London believes that "burnout" in his job at KPMG contributed significantly to his poor judgment. He says he had been asking to get out of that position for three years and "being in the same position for so long, working extensive hours" took a toll on him to the point that he didn't value his job as much.

Read MarketWatch's full interview with Scott London  here.

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