Catherine Anne Thompson was one of Australia’s most successful mortgage brokers, earning around $5m a year. "It was great, it was wonderful, but it was all a lie," she said.

She was sentenced to five years in jail for defrauding investors of more than $4m in a scheme called ‘Mormonville’, a bogus retirement village

It was alleged that Mortgage Miracles, of which Thompson was the director, obtained investment loans for customers on the promise of massive returns.

Dozens of investors packed the court to hear how she had convinced members of her Mormon church in southern Perth, to part with hundreds of thousands of dollars for the fictitious scheme.

Investments ranged from $40,000 to $400,000 were used to pay a promised 17.5% return, and fund Thompson’s property portfolio. The Ponzi-style scheme collapsed in 2008.

Pauline Oldfield and her husband invested over $230,000 and now live in a caravan.

"We lost our home. We had a farm - we had a 93 acre farm," she said. "We lost everything.” She remains optimistic. “But, you know, we've got a good life," she said.

Thompson will be eligible for parole in three years and one month, and must pay compensation to her victims.