Former Nortel Networks chief executive officer Frank Dunn and two other former executives of the telecommunications equipment maker were criminally charged by Canada's national police force.
An Associated Press report said the executives were charged with fraudulently misstating the company's financial results.
Dunn, 54, is charged with fraud affecting the public securities market, as well as with falsification of accounts and documents and involvement in issuing a false prospectus, the report said.
Facing similar charges are former Nortel chief financial officer Douglas Beatty, 53, and former corporate controller Michael Gollogly, 49.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police alleges criminal activity within Nortel between the beginning of 2002 and mid-2003, when Dunn, Beatty and Gollogly are accused of fraudulently misstating financial results.
The three were fired in 2004 after allegations of accounting irregularities at the company.
They turned themselves in to police on Thursday morning, appeared briefly court and were released on bail, said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Marc LaPorte.
Dunn's lawyer, David Porter, issued a statement expressing confidence that 'the evidence will demonstrate that Mr. Dunn acted honestly and diligently in the interests of Nortel's shareholders and employees at all times, and that he will be acquitted of these charges.'
Nortel issued a statement stressing that it has not been charged and was not the target of the investigation.