UPDATE 1-Former Nortel execs settle fraud charges with SEC

(Adds background, details. In U.S. dollars. Changes dateline, previous WASHINGTON)

TORONTO, April 30 (Reuters) - Three former Nortel Networks Corp NT.NNT.TO executives have agreed to each pay $75,000 plus disgorgements to settle financial fraud charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC said on Wednesday.

Craig Johnson, James Kinney and Kenneth Taylor were vice-presidents of finance for the Canadian company's wireline, wireless, and enterprise business units, respectively.

The former executives did not admit to or deny the SEC's allegations. Nortel is North America's biggest maker of telephone equipment.

The deal also bars each individual from acting as an officer or director of any public company for five years, the SEC said.

The SEC had alleged the three kept improper accounting reserves in the fourth quarter of 2002 and that they manipulated Nortel's earnings under orders from other company executives at the time.

Nortel, which has fallen far from its perch as an investor darling with a triple-digit share price, has struggled to return to profitability after the tech bubble burst at the start of this decade.

Aside from undertaking a massive turnaround effort that featured thousands of layoffs, Nortel has posted billions in losses and has been forced to deal with an accounting scandal that led to the purging of its executive team. (Reporting by Rachelle Younglai, Karey Wutkowski and Wojtek Dabrowski; editing by Peter Galloway)