Disgraced lawyer, Marc Dreier, was found guilty of planning a scheme to sell US$700 million (AUD$900m) in fake promissory notes and steal client funds, writes the Dow Jones Newswire. 

US district judge, Jed Rakoff, sentenced Dreier to 20 years, meaning he will be 79 when released. 

Judge Rakoff also ordered Dreier to pay $387.7m (AUD$500m) in restitution and indicated he would approve the government's request for $746m (AUD$961m) in forfeiture. 

Dreier, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, securities fraud, money laundering and five counts of wire fraud in May in a scheme that duped hedge funds and other investors into making investments in hundreds of millions of dollars in fake promissory notes, or loans. 

Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan had asked Dreier be sentenced to 145 years in prison, while Dreier  had asked for a sentence of 10 years to 12 years in prison. 

The sentencing marks the end of a stunning fall for Dreier, who started his own law firm in 1996 and grew the firm to about 270 lawyers with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh in the months before the scheme collapsed last year.