Eli Devoy - $9m mortgage fraudster, gets 5 year prison term

Eli Devoy in the Auckland District Court this morning. Judge Brooke Gibson said there was 'a complete absence of remorse'. Photo / Nick Reed.

The woman at the centre of a $9.2 million mortgage fraud will spend at least two and half years in prison for her offending.

Eli Devoy, 47, was sentenced today to five years imprisonment by Judge Brooke Gibson in the Auckland District Court.

Judge Gibson said there was a high level of "pure deceit and dishonesty" involved in Devoy's offending, which saw her use previous names and false documents to obtain lending for Auckland properties.

Judge Gibson described Devoy as the "ringleader" of the group of offenders involved in the fraudulent scheme, including three of her brothers and a sister-in-law.

"Her role was clearly pivotal to the success of the scheme until the time it was ultimately detected," Judge Gibson said.

Eli Devoy arriving at court in June with her lawyer Quentin Duff. Photo / Greg Bowker

Devoy committed some of the offending while serving a sentence for dishonesty crimes she was convicted of in August 2008.

Speaking to Devoy during the sentencing, Judge Gibson said: "There is a complete absence of remorse on your part. You continue to protest your innocence and in my view those protestations verge on fantasy."

Judge Gibson considered the damage caused to the reputation banks and mortgage firms involved in the crimes when sentencing Devoy and the other offenders.

The Crown sought a sentence for Devoy of no less than five years imprisonment. Prosecutor Todd Simmonds said the significant scale of Devoy's offending, the ongoing nature, personal gain and premeditation involved were aggravating factors in the case.

Devoy was found guilty in June of 17 charges of obtaining by deception, two charges for dishonestly using a document and one of using forged documents.

She was acquitted on two charges of obtaining by deception.

Of her brothers, Mehrdad Ghorbani was found guilty of six charges and sentenced to two years and seven months in jail. Mehrzad Ghorbani was found guilty of four charges, having pleaded guilty to one charge prior to trial. He was sentenced to ten months home detention.

A third brother, Mehran Ghorbani, pleaded guilty to two charges before trial and was sentenced to seven months home detention.

Devoy's sister-in-law, Nasrin Kardani, was found guilty of obtaining by deception and will be sentenced next month