Scotland Yard commander Ali Dizaei has been found guilty of corruption and perverting the course of justice for the second time, and has been jailed for three years.
The court returned a unanimous guilty verdict for the disgraced police commander, who was originally found guilty in February 2010 for threatening and falsely arresting a man in a row about money.
Mr Justice Saunders said Dizaei used his position and power to arrest Waad al-Baghdadi because of a private dispute.
He told the policeman: "You are a very senior officer. The breach of trust that the public has placed in you is the more serious because of your senior appointment.
"You have been a role model to many other people as a result of your achievements as a police officer."
Iranian-born Dizaei's 26-year police career has not been without controversy, during which he was investigated for making false expenses claims, using drugs and prostitutes and even spying for Iran, although no charges were ever brought.
It was the most expensive inquiry into a single police officer ever made.
The controversial officer also had great success in the force, serving for a short time as a chief superintendent and president of the Metropolitan Black Police Association.
His appeal in May last year saw him walk free after spending 15 months of his original four-year sentence in jail, some of which he had to spend in solitary confinement due to his treatment by other inmates.
He told a news conference afterwards that he had left prison "with my integrity completely intact".
At the retrial, Dizaei's lawyer presented new evidence relating to his client's immigration status, which came after the police officer's earlier claims at racial discrimination within the police service.
But his allegations were not accepted by jurors, whose second guilty verdict means he cannot appeal again.
Gaon Hart, from the Crown Prosecution Service's special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: "Dizaei had no proper reason for making this arrest and there was no real evidence that this young man had committed any crime on that day.
"Dizaei's corruption, which would be deplorable in any police officer, was all the more so given his position as a highly ranked commander," she said.
"The public entrust the police with considerable powers and with that comes considerable responsibility. Dizaei abused that power and ignored that responsibility."
She added: "The public should have confidence that we will prosecute anyone regardless of their position or the difficulties encountered along the way, where there is evidence that they've committed serious offences of corruption."
Dizaei will remain a senior police officer until the bureaucratic formal process of throwing him out of the force can be completed.
He will then be sacked for gross misconduct and could face losing all or part of his pension under further measures aimed at punishing corrupt officers.
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