As long as it's a Verizon phone with a clean ESN, you can still activate it. The unlocking issue is only relevant when you move a phone to a different carrier.

It's only illegal to unlock a phone by modifying the phone to work on that particular carrier. You have to contact the carrier in regards to unlocking the phone for you.

Activating the phone will not be an issue, as long as the phone you are wanting to activate is a Verizon phone on Verizon. (assuming you are speaking about this carrier because you posted in Verizons forum).