Former CEO Frank Dunn, 57, was charged in 2008 — just as the company imploded — with fraud affecting the public securities markets, as well as with falsification of accounts and documents and involvement in issuing a false prospectus.
Former Nortel chief financial officer Douglas Beatty, 56, and former corporate controller Michael Gollogly, 52, face similar counts.
The Ontario Superior Court trial, expected to last more than six months, will be presided over by Justice Frank Marrocco.
The court will hear arguments that the men, dismissed from the company in 2004, fraudulently misstated financial results in order to get bonuses they were promised if the company returned to profitability.
Nortel went on to restate its financial reports four times over as many years as regulators and investigators began looking at the company's financial statements.
Before the trial begins, Marrocco is expected to rule on a defence request for more details about the fraud allegations levied against the men. That could be followed by opening arguments, but if more information is required those could be delayed.
Scandal sent Nortel shares to penny-stock status
The Nortel accounting scandal of 2002-2003 produced one of the most spectacular stock market flameouts of a Canadian company, dragging down the share price of what had been Canada's premier technology firm from a peak of $124.50 in 2000 to penny-stock status.
Kevin O'Leary, a CBC business commentator, said Nortel's case needs to be put in the context of the "dot-com bubble."
"We suspended belief in the fundamentals of business for almost six years," he said. "We didn't care about cash flow. The whole market was moving on momentum, and Nortel was part of that story.
"But when you erase $440 billion worth of value, somebody has to pay. And that's what we're working on today."
The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009 in North American and Europe amid mounting losses, falling sales, big debts and a legacy of legal issues.
Thousands of Canadians lost their jobs when Nortel folded, though thousands of positions were also rescued when other tech giants bought up Nortel's assets.
The company has sold almost all its operating businesses to various buyers for more than $3 billion.
At its peak during the 1999-2000 technology boom, Nortel was Canada's most valuable company after the telecom equipment maker went through several years of rapid expansion and diversification funded by debt and stock sales.
The Nortel case was one of a wave of accounting scandals that led to the collapse of high-profile companies such as energy trader Enron Corp., the WorldCom phone giant, cable operator Adelphia Communications and the Hollinger newspaper group.
Various executives, notably Canadian-born Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom and Conrad Black of Hollinger, were sent to prison after U.S. crackdowns that held them responsible for wrongdoing at their companies.
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Source: Huff
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