As Peter Murrell was sentenced to five years and three months in jail, his lawyer told the High Court in Edinburgh the former SNP chief executive was a man "overwhelmed by feelings of embarrassment and shame".
Murrell, the estranged husband of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, pleaded guilty last month to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party he ran for more than 20 years.
His lawyer told the court the nature of many of the 61-year-old's purchases had made him a figure of public ridicule whose humiliation will endure long beyond his prison sentence.
Passing sentence, the judge added that it was "very difficult to get a clear picture for what drove your actions".
Despite his influence on Scottish politics, Murrell had always shunned the limelight until the details of his crimes placed him in the full glare of publicity.
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