Bloomberg reported that three former top executives of Dewey & LeBoeuf avoided potential prison terms after a Manhattan jury failed to agree on whether they lied to investors in the run-up to the largest law-firm bankruptcy in history.

Bloomberg said the mistrial followed weeks of deliberations during which jurors acquitted the trio of lesser charges.

Bloomberg noted that the case, while prosecuted by the office of Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., involved the type of alleged fraud often pursued by the U.S. government. The outcome underscored the difficulty prosecutors face — even with the benefit of cooperating witnesses — as they seek to hold individuals accountable for corporate crimes.