(Bloomberg) -- Prosecutors said there’s no reasonable prospect of convicting three former executives of CannTrust Holdings Inc. on fraud and other charges, marking a likely end to one of the Canadian marijuana industry’s biggest scandals.

All charges against former Chief Executive Officer Peter Aceto, former Chairman Eric Paul and former Vice-Chairman Mark Litwin should be withdrawn, prosecutors told an Ontario court on Wednesday. The judge adjourned the case until Thursday morning after the defendants asked that they be acquitted instead.

The three executives were charged in 2021 with fraud, making false statements to regulators and investors, and authorizing the commission of an offense under Ontario’s Securities Act. Paul and Litwin faced additional charges of insider trading. Their trial began in mid-October. 

Using its position as a producer of medical marijuana, CannTrust was one of the companies to benefit from what came to be known as Canada’s “green rush” after the country legalized recreational pot in 2018 and sparked the rapid growth of a multibillion-dollar market. 

But a discovery in 2019 that CannTrust had been growing part of its crop in unlicensed rooms at a greenhouse in Pelham, Ontario, sent the company into a crisis. Its growing licenses were suspended by Canadian health authorities and it filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2020, exiting this year thanks to a C$17 million ($12.5 million) refinancing from Dutch private equity firm Kenzoll BV.

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