The Crown has reduced the number of charges against five former employees of the Norbourg investment firm to 607 from 722.
Prosecutors hope the decision simplifies a complex case averts another judicial debacle.
The trial for the five ex-employees _ Serge Beugre, Jean Cholette, Felicien Souka, Remi Deschambault and Jean Renaud _ began last September, but ended after a jury couldn't reach any unanimous verdicts.
Conspiracy and proceeds-of-crime charges have been withdrawn in an effort to simplify the case against the five, the Crown said Monday.
Defence lawyers have complained the Crown is to blame for the complexity of the case in the first place.
The five will return to court March 22 to decide if they will be tried by a judge alone or by a jury.
The jurors hearing the first trial were dismissed in late January when they could not reach a unanimous verdict after 12 days of deliberation.
The Crown says a potential trial could begin before the end of the year.
The Norbourg financial scandal, masterminded by Quebec money manager Vincent Lacroix, has been described by the courts as the biggest financial fraud in Canadian history.
Lacroix was sentenced last October to 13 years in jail after quickly pleading guilty to 200 fraud-related charges in a $130-million scam that involved 9,200 clients.
