You can do mental gymnastics, sure. I actually don’t disagree with you even. But still…
Say a guy prepares some really great notes/study guide to pass the bar exam but he loses them. Some other guy taking it finds them. The guy that lost them gets all stressed out over it and ends up failing when he otherwise would’ve passed. The guy that found them wasn’t going to pass but did because of the notes. The guy that lost them ends up spiraling downwards after failing and ends up addicted to meth and broke. The guy that passes wouldn’t have otherwise and ends up being a sleazy personal injury attorney that makes millions and marries a super hot chick and they have a kid that ends up being a mlb baseball player.
Years later, someone hears about the notes incident and decides to report it to the local police. Do you think they would open a criminal investigation?
As opposed to: someone finds a diamond watch and decides to keep it instead of reporting it. Years later, they’re at a restaurant and the original owner notices it and calls the police. What do you think is going to happen to the person with the watch?