Former Federal Labor MP Craig Thomson will be sentenced today for defrauding the Health Services Union (HSU) of more than $24,000.

After a criminal case lasting more than a year, the former member for Dobell in NSW was found guilty of misusing union credit cards over a five-year period when he was national secretary.

Thomson was convicted of using union funds to pay for sex workers, flights for his wife, hotel stays, make cash withdrawals, and buy items such as cigarettes and firewood.

He could be jailed for up to five years when he appears at Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning.

When the guilty verdict was handed down last month, magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said the court had heard from several union witnesses who made it clear union credit cards were to be used for business purposes only.

"This must have been known by the accused," Mr Rozencwajg said.

The magistrate acknowledged there was some grey area defining what constituted business use, but he said it would be an affront to common sense to think the card could be used to pay for sexual services.

Thomson's lawyer has urged the magistrate not to send him to jail, arguing the amount of money involved was small in comparison to other cases of white collar crimes.

His lawyer has also argued his client's loss of career and public notoriety is punishment enough.

In a pre-sentencing hearing last week, prosecutors submitted that an immediate jail term was warranted.

Prosecutor Lesley Taylor SC argued Thomson had not "uttered one word of remorse" and that anything less than an immediate jail term would be inadequate.

She maintained he had used the media and the shield of parliamentary privilege to falsely blame others.

Thomson was found guilty of 65 fraud charges relating to the misuse of his union credit cards.

Whistleblower calls for tough sentence

Union whistleblower Kathy Jackson, who took over as national secretary of the HSU when Thomson resigned in 2007, has called for a tough sentence.

Ms Jackson says the union has been hurt by the actions of Thomson and has described the union as being "like a cult".

Thomson was suspended from the Labor Party in April 2012, after Fair Work Australia completed a long-running investigation into allegations against him.

He then went on to stand as an independent in the seat of Dobell and denied any wrongdoing, vowing to fight the charges against him.

Thomson initially faced 150 fraud charges after he was arrested on the New South Wales Central Coast.