Who better to talk about business ethics than Patrick Kuhse? If you listen to somebody who never got in trouble in his life, maybe the guy doesn’t even know what temptation feels like. What can he tell you about dealing with it? But if you listen to Kuhse, you’re hearing from someone who knows exactly what temptation feels like. He also knows what surrender to temptation, international flight from the law and prison feel like.

If you ever wonder what it would be like to cross over to the dark side and soak up some excitement and easy cash, this is one small-town Iowa boy who can tell you. He’s also going to tell you to forget about it. You think a careful life is boring? “I’ll trade you,” says Kuhse.

Kuhse (pronounced KOO-see) grew up in Grundy Center. His mother was a registered nurse, and his father ran a hair salon. Kuhse went off to Arizona State University after high school, and by 1987 had become the co-owner of a financial planning firm in San Diego. Things were looking very good.

Then a friend made an intriguing suggestion. She was about to start managing bond investments for the state of Oklahoma and wanted Kuhse to get involved as a stockbroker in a scheme involving bribes and kickbacks. He did.

When the FBI got on the case, Kuhse and his family moved to Costa Rica. After three years on the run, his wife (now his ex-wife) took the kids back to California. Kuhse lasted another year, then turned himself in. He wound up serving four years in prison for conspiracy, bribing a public official and money laundering.

During his imprisonment, he gave a few talks to students in executive M.B.A. programs as part of their education about white-collar crime.

Now speaking is his full-time job. “I talk about eight critical thinking errors,” Kuhse said by telephone from Southern California. “I want my audience to learn just how easy it can be to get involved with criminal activity if you’re not conscious of right and wrong at all times.”

Kuhse, 51, will be in Cedar Falls Sept. 12 to give a lecture in The Wilson Series in Business Ethics at the University of Northern Iowa. He also has spoken at Iowa State University and has made several appearances at the University of Iowa.

These gigs are part of his non-stop series of lectures at universities and corporations all over the United States. Also part of his routine: Every six months, he reports his income to the government, and somebody there decides how much his payments will be for the following six months – Kuhse not only was banned for life from the securities industry, he also was ordered to pay $3.89 million in restitution. So he knows what crushing debt feels like, too.

Corporate scandals have provided plenty of references to go with his own experience, and Martha Stewart’s story is his favorite.

But sometimes college students say to him: So what if she did a little time? Look at all the money she made.

Some people just have to learn the hard way.