If a researcher finds himself in a situation where he has a conflict of interest

I believe that researcher has to contact the  conflict of interest committee

The main duty of the conflict of interest committee is to evaluate the current situation by using a standarized protocols.
After that,they would make a conclusion on whether you are still eligible to continue the research or whether you should withdraw from it

To sum it up you’ll get in a lot of trouble and even some legal action can be taken