LONDON (Reuters) - The former head of collapsed insurer Independent Insurance and two other executives have been found guilty of conspiracy to defraud investors, staff and policyholders, police said on Tuesday.

Michael Bright, Independent's former chief executive, Philip Condon, former deputy managing director, and Dennis Lomas, former finance director, were each found guilty of withholding claims data, which helped mask the insurer's financial troubles.

The three men will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday. The trial opened in May.

Independent Insurance's collapse in June 2001 was one of the highest-profile insolvencies the industry has seen.

It had more than 500,000 policies on its books, and counted many of the UK's biggest companies among its clients when it went down. It employed over 2,000 people and in 2000 its market value had reached 900 million pounds.

The three former executives were not charged with causing the demise of the business, but at attempting to disguise its financial ill-health.

The insurer's annual accounts for 2000 showed a 22 million-pound profit but should have shown a loss of at least 180 million pounds, Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said in a statement.

To create a more positive financial picture the company withheld claims data from its actuaries and had not fully disclosed agreements it had with its reinsurers, the SFO said.

Bright, Condon and Lomas were found guilty of dishonestly withholding claims data from actuaries Watson Wyatt.

Bright and Lomas were also found guilty of dishonestly making incomplete disclosure of agreements with reinsurers.

The trio were charged in December 2005 after a joint investigation by the SFO and the City of London police into the circumstances surrounding Independent's closure.

Over 366 million pounds has been paid out to policyholders under a statutory compensation scheme, the SFO said.

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