A problem gambler who fleeced more than $1.7 million from elderly investors blamed his English boarding school upbringing for his descent into crime.

Edward Charles Toller was on Friday sentenced to eight years in jail, with a five-year non-parole period, for 14 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception over a three-year period.

Edward Charles Toller.

NSW District Court judge Stephen Norrish QC said the 34-year-old alcoholic and gambling addict arrived in Australia in 2013 to escape a toxic lifestyle.

But soon after his arrival, Toller began approaching investors who had lost money through firm Velvet Assets under the guise of running a rival investment company.