Former insurance agent Vittorio Ziegelaar, who operated in the Victorian coastal town of Warrnambool, has been sentenced to two years’ jail after receiving more than $280,000 in insurance premiums and super payments from clients and gambling the money away rather than passing it to the relevant companies.

Mr Ziegelaar was the sole proprietor of Tori Ziegelaar Financial Services and acted as an MLC agent between 1994 and 2001.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to eight counts of theft, three counts of false accounting and one count of falsification of a document. Prosecutors said he also created false MLC documents, issuing them to clients as false confirmation that their payments had been received.

Mr Ziegelaar must serve a 12-month non-parole period and repay MLC $161,802.