However, throwing any possible ICO idea at Mr. Vilardo, he was able to cite previous successful SEC lawsuits that the SEC could use as presedence.

The only token I could conceive that he thought there SEC would not be able to go after is a token that can only be bought and sold at a fixed price and only from the issuer (non-transferable).

He also reminded me that the SEC is one entity. States have their own securities law and you could easily be sued in state court under a different set of securities rules than the federal government has.

EDIT: Also, to be clear ICOs and securities are not illegal. Selling an unregistered security is illegal. If you want to sell a security you can register it with the SEC and be fine. That will of course be pretty expensive.