Several executives of KPMG have filed a motion to dismiss charges that they had improperly sold certain types of tax shelters, arguing that no court has held such tax shelters were illegal, The New York Times reports. 

"The whole indictment is sloppy and peppered with words that have no legal meaning," attorney Carolyn Rule, who represents former tax vice chairman Richard Smith, told The Times.

The indictment of 19 former KPMG officials as well as two other non-KPMG employees was returned in October after the accounting firm agreed to pay $456 million in a deferred-prosecution deal.