Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza was sentenced Tuesday to serve eight months in a community confinement center during a five-year probation.
Prosecutors had sought a 10- to 16-month prison sentence for D’Souza, but a judge ordered him instead to live in a Manhattan center that will allow the best-selling author to come and go for employment purposes, Reuters reported.
He’ll serve out the first eight months of a five-year probationary period in the center and will have to complete one day of community service a week for those five years. He was also ordered to undergo weekly therapy and pay a $30,000 fine.
D’Souza, 53, pleaded guilty in May to violating campaign finance law. He admitted to reimbursing two “straw donors” who donated $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign in New York for Republican Wendy Long, Reuters reported.
“It was a crazy idea, it was a bad idea,” D’Souza told U.S. District Judge Richard Berman before being sentenced. “I regret breaking the law.”
The case against D’Souza, an outspoken critic of President Obama, prompted backlash from some conservatives who believe the federal government is purposely targeting the author because of his political views.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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