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“The burden [of proof] in my view, is not met,” Justice Marrocco told a packed courtroom. “The charges are dismissed.”

The accused, who each faced a maximum of 14 years in jail if found guilty, hugged elated family members after the verdict was delivered. Ms. Dunn, the wife of the former CEO who attended much of the year-long trial here, wiped away tears.

In a statement, Mr. Dunn said he was “looking forward to turning the page.” The former executive thanked his legal team while defending the “integrity” of the company and actions of its leadership at all times during a career spanning nearly three decades at Nortel.

“The documentary evidence and testimony reaffirmed this core value that I witnessed over my 28 years with the company,” he said.

The RCMP brought charges against Mr. Dunn, Mr. Beatty and Mr. Gollogly in 2008 following an investigation into the faltering firm’s bookkeeping in late 2002 and early 2003.

Throughout the trial, Crown prosecutors attempted to show that hundreds of millions of dollars in accrued accounting provisions recorded by Nortel finance personnel to recognize severance costs, contract liabilities and other financial risks were “improperly” used to manipulate results in later quarters.

Mr. Dunn was chief executive at Nortel from 2001 to April 2004 when the trio was fired by the board amid scandal.

It was a three-year period of extreme tumult for the company following the bursting of the tech and Internet bubble. As orders for the network gear Nortel made dried up, the firm shrank drastically, cutting a staff of more than 95,000 by two-thirds while shuttering operations across the globe.