The defendants in that case were acquitted because the income of money from illicit sources could not be determined, according to a court statement.
Sounds like the judge did their level best to find some random way to weasel out of doing their job. "Oh, wait, you can't prove definitively that every single penny of the laundered money was from illegal sources? Guess that means everyone is innocent!"
It can't just be me and my perspective. The world is just legitimately getting worse, in almost every respect. WTF.