Montreal advertising executive Paul Coffin was sentenced to an 18-month prison term in a Quebec appeals court on Friday for his role in defrauding the federal government out of $1.5 million in sponsorship funds.

In May, Coffin pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud for his involvement in the sponsorship fiasco.

He initially received a two-year less a day conditional sentence of community service.

However, the Crown appealed that decision, saying the sentence was not enough to deter others from doing the same in the future.

"Render the sentence that should have been rendered," Crown prosecutor Francois Drolet told the Quebec Court of Appeal last month.

The Crown had asked the three judges on the appeal court for a 34-month jail term.

Coffin's lawyers argued that his original sentencing of community service was enough.

"The Crown wants to make Paul Coffin the poster boy for this type of infraction," Raphael Schachter told the court. "That is wrong in fact and it's wrong in law."

Under his original sentence, Coffin was given a 9 p.m. weeknight curfew and he had to surrender his passport. He also had to lecture students at McGill University in Montreal about ethics in business.

The appeals court said the lower court judge who handed down the initial sentence paid too much attention to Coffin's personal circumstances -- like the fact he paid back the money, showed remorse and was willing to give lectures -- and not enough on the crimes, reported CTV's Jed Kahane.

The $335 million sponsorship program was an attempt by the federal government to promote national unity after the 1995 referendum on sovereignty, which federalists won by a very slim margin.

A public inquiry discovered that about $150 million of the $335 million designated for the program was given to Liberal-friendly ad firms and other associates as handouts.

For five years, from 1997 to 2002, Coffin's Montreal-based Communication Coffin received $1.6 million from the program while doing next-to-nothing in return.

Former bureaucrat Chuck Guite and advertising executive Jean Brault are also charged in the scandal.

Guite is facing five fraud charges and his trial is set to being jury selection on May 2. Brault has already pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud totalling $1.6 million and he is set to be sentenced on May 5.

Both men also face a conspiracy charge that will be handled separately.

Coffin was given three days to turn himself into authorities unless his lawyers decide to appeal the decision by way of the Supreme Court of Canada.

If he doesn't appeal, Coffin will become the first person involved in the sponsorship scandal to serve real jail time.

With files from The Canadian Press