The Supreme Court on Friday reversed a lower court ruling and acquitted three former executives of the now-defunct Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan who were charged with window-dressing the bank's earnings reports for fiscal 1997.

In a verdict that vindicated the executives of the failed bank that symbolized the bursting of Japan's bubble economy in the 1990s, the top court unanimously agreed the three defendants did not violate the Securities and Exchange Law.

Although their conduct may have deviated from accounting standards that were introduced in 1997, "it cannot be said (their) acts were unlawful" at the time, presiding Justice Ryoji Nakagawa said at the Supreme Court's Second Petty Bench.