Eight con-artists have been jailed for a scam that used fake student documents to defraud two colleges of £500,000.
The directors of two firms, Training Options UK Ltd and FE Options Ltd, and one insider, have also been disqualified from running their own businesses.
Former student details who had completed courses at Castle College in Nottingham and North Warwickshire and Hinckley College were passed to the fraudulent training providers.
Their names were then used to forge enrolment forms and other paperwork.
Castle College in Nottinghamshire paid out £475,391 for 583 students it believed had completed either a customer services or health and safety course.
North Warwickshire and Hinckley College paid £27,108 for 249 students it was led to believe had completed similar courses.
Fraud squad detectives from Nottinghamshire Police examined more than 30 bank accounts and hundreds of emails.
As part of the inquiry, 562 pages of witness statements were documented, 97 taped interviews were completed and a 6,000 page case file was compiled.
The investigation culminated in warrants being executed at six addresses - two in Nottinghamshire and four in Merseyside - in April 2010.
A total of 64 police officers were involved in the co-ordinated strikes, including officers from Merseyside Police.
Andrew Leathwood, 43, of Waterpark Road, Prenton was found guilty of conspiring to defraud the former Castle College in Nottingham of of £475,391 and North Warwickshire and Hinckley College of £27,108.
Leathwood benefited from the fraud by more than £125,000 and purchased a number of properties in his and the company’s name.
He was jailed for five years at Nottingham Crown Court and disqualified from being a company director for eight years.
His business partner, Carolanne Ravenscroft, 57 was jailed for the same offence for three years and disqualified for being a company director for five years.
The investigation found she benefited from the fraud by more than £70,000.
General Manager Kieran England, 37, of Vermont Road, Crosby, was given 33 months in prison and disqualified from being a director for four years.
He received £20,000 above his normal wage from FE Options Ltd between June and October 2007.
Steven Johnson, 39, of Strathmore Drive, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to making an article to use in connection with fraud.
He was given six months in prison, suspended for one year, and 180 hours of community service.
The fourth Merseyside man Damion Johnstone, 39, of Mossdale Drive, Rainhill, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Castle College of £475, 391.
He received £21,650 above his normal wage from Training Options (UK) Ltd between December 2007 and February 2008 and £2,000 from Ravenscroft.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for one year, 250 hours of community service and handed a three month curfew.
"We now move into the next phase of seeking to use the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure that those sentenced do not benefit further from their criminality."
Administrators Leslie Hayes, 44, and his wife Claire Hayes, 38, both of Burnt Oaks Close, Mansfield Woodhouse were also jailed for three years and 18 months respectively.
The couple both pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Castle College of £475, 391 and conspiring to defraud North Warwickshire and Hinckley College of £27,108.
The pair were both banned for four years from being a company director .
Former Castle College employee Kay Edwards, 45, of Heatherley Drive, Forest Town, Mansfield pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Castle College of £475,391.
The insider also pleaded guilty to an additional count of insurance fraud after claiming there had been a burglary at her home address
She was sentenced to 33 months in prison for conspiring to defraud Castle College and three months in prison for insurance fraud to run consecutively.
The investigation found that Edwards had put Hayes and Leathwood in touch with Castle College after discovering it had money to spend on providing training courses for students.
Nottinghamshire Police began its investigation into allegations of fraud at Castle College in December 2007.
DC Nick Lowe, from Nottinghamshire Police Fraud Squad, said: "This was an incredibly lengthy and complex investigation into a well planned and organised fraud.
"I would like to thank Merseyside Police Economic Crime Unit for their invaluable assistance in this inquiry."
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