WASHINGTON – Federal regulators filed civil fraud charges Friday against three former executives of the parent of IndyMac Bank, accusing them of misleading investors about the mortgage lender’s finances before it collapsed in July 2008.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the charges against Michael Perry, former chief executive of Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac Bancorp, and former chief financial officers, Scott Keys and Blair Abernathy.

Abernathy agreed to settle, paying a $100,000 fine and $26,592 in restitution plus interest. He neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing under terms of the settlement.

Perry and Keys, through their lawyers, disputed the charges pending against them and said they will contest them in court.

The SEC said the three executives took part in filing false and misleading public reports about the financial stability of IndyMac Bank and the holding company, which filed for bankruptcy protection after the bank failed.

Perry, Keys and Abernathy regularly received reports in 2007 and 2008 about the deteriorating finances but failed to ensure adequate disclosure of the condition to investors even as IndyMac Bancorp sold millions of dollars in new stock, the SEC alleged.

The collapse and seizure by the government of IndyMac Bank, with about $30.2 billion in assets, was one of the biggest bank failures in U.S. history.