The Lombard Finance four have escaped jail terms and have been sentenced to community service.
Former justice minister Douglas Graham and Lawrence Bryant were sentenced to 300 hours' service and ordered to pay $100,000 reparation.
Another former justice minister, Bill Jefferies, along with Michael Reeves, were sentenced to 400 hours' community service.
Justice Dobson said in sentencing that Graham's and Bryant's ability and willingness to pay reparation entitled them to a discounted sentence.
However, Jefferies resisted reparation, saying he did not have the resources and in any case disagreed with the concept of a sentence being reduced upon payment of reparation.
He gave all three non-executive directors a 15 per cent sentence discount for their good reputations and high standing in the community.
Justice Dobson said that in the case of Reeves, his serious ill-health was the overwhelming mitigating factor.
Obligations to his family were also a consideration.
Reeves has cancer and underwent an operation in 2007 followed by chemotherapy and his ongoing outlook was mixed.
Reeves was not in a position to pay reparation.
Last month, the four were guilty of making untrue statements about Lombard's position in its offer documents in December 2007.
During the eight-week trial of the four directors, evidence was given that Lombard sales staff were still soliciting investment from members of the public in March 2008, less than a month from the decision by the firm's trustees to call in receivers.
The Lombard collapse, one of many finance company failures between 2007 and 2009, left 4400 investors owed $127 million.
Crown prosecutor Colin Carruthers QC this morning (Thur) asked Wellington High Court Justice Robert Dobson to sentence the four to between two years and two years nine months' jail.
The lack of remorse, no guilty pleas and lack of reparation offered meant jail must be considered, he said.
A victim impact statement was read to the court, in which a 42-year-old Hamilton woman described how she and her husband had lost the $30,000 they had saved to pay for IVF.
The woman said they had had to get the money for the treatment from family and had since had two children.
They had no home or assets of value, and had been willing to sacrifice everything to have a family.
"I feel humiliated and vulnerable because I trusted people who I respected and admired,'' her statement said.
Paul Davison, counsel for Graham and Bryant, said they were honest and honourable men who had applied themselves diligently to the task as directors.
Their actions were not those of criminals and their appearance before the court was the "ultimate humiliation'' for them.
Jefferies' counsel, David Hurd, said his client was a `good and decent man' who had lived a good and decent life.
Having a conviction greatly outweighed any sentence the court could hand down, he said.
The receivership of Lombard was a tragedy for the company and its investors and there were no winners.
He said Jefferies was `devastated' by the collapse and was full of remorse for investors' losses.
However, the collapse of Lombard was due to the international credit crunch, not because it was poorly managed or was directed irresponsibly, Mr Hurd said.
Graham left the court flanked by his wife and former fellow National minister Max Bradford.
He refused to comment and his wife said "my husband won't be commenting''.
Graham was asked if he had a message for Lombard's investors and whether he would be appealing his conviction.
He refused to comment.
Jefferies also refused to comment as he left the court.
"It's a time for silence,'' he said.
Bryant also refused to comment.
Lombard investor Paul Wah said afterwards that the sentence was about what he expected or possibly a little heavier than expected.
"There's no point in jailing old men."
He said the judgement would allow either the receivers or the trustee to launch a civil class action, which might give Lombard investors some redress.
