Defence barrister Joshua Wilson, QC told the Supreme Court on Monday it was almost unbearable punishment for Dr Mervyn Jacobson that he had gone from being a respected medical entrepreneur to convicted felon.

A psychological report revealed Dr Jacobson, 72, had a persistent depressive disorder, suffered from stress-related insomnia, weight loss and fatigue and had been "psychologically crushed" following his conviction.

Mr Wilson said Dr Jacobson was likely to experience a decline in his mental health if he was jailed.

Dr Jacobson, of Brighton, was found guilty by a jury of manipulating the stock market to prop up his biotech company's share price.

The father of three denied claims he was a "fraudster" but was convicted of 35 charges of conspiracy to manipulate the market and fund transactions to create an artificial share price between May and November 2006.

Mr Wilson claimed Dr Jacobson had not been the architect of the scheme, blaming his son-in-law Geoffrey Newing, but had "succumbed to temptation".

When Mr Wilson claimed no one had lost money because of Dr Jacobson's actions and he had not been driven by pure greed, Justice Stephen Kaye pointed out this type of white-collar crime undermined the integrity and public confidence in the stock market.

Dr Jacobson had made his fortune after setting up Genetic Technologies, which holds valuable patents for DNA and breast cancer testing.

He had been researching human genetic material before his company invented a method to obtain valuable information located within what is called the non-coding DNA of all species.

Crown prosecutor Jeremy Rapke, QC, described the case during the trial as one of price-fixing.

The Crown case was that Dr Jacobson's daughter, Tamara, and her second husband, Geoffrey Newing, from Toorak, acted illegally and were heavily involved with
Dr Jacobson in manipulating the price of Genetic Technologies shares on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Much of Dr Jacobson's wealth was tied up in the company and his financial stability was dependent on the company's success and its share price.

So when the share price began to fall and Dr Jacobson started receiving margin calls on an $11.4 million loan with Opes Prime, Dr Jacobson gave more than $1.55 million to his daughter.

Mr Rapke said Tamara, her husband and two stock brokers then used the money to buy Genetic Technologies shares on the ASX to maintain the price at an artificially high level.

Dr Jacobson admitted giving Tamara large sums of money but claimed the cash was a gift.

The pre-sentence hearing continues.