Indian author sentenced for US campaign laws violation

Conservative Indian-American author and Obama-critic Dinesh D'Souza, who had pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign laws, has been spared a prison term but sentenced to five years of probation, mandatory community service and fined USD 30,000.

D'Souza, 53, of California was sentenced yesterday before US District Judge Richard Berman for violating the federal campaign election law by making illegal contributions to a United States Senate campaign in the names of others.

He was sentenced in a Manhattan federal court to five years of probation, with eight months during the first year to be served in a community confinement center.

In addition to the probationary term, Berman sentenced D'Souza to a mandatory eight-hour day of community service every week of his five-year term of probation, weekly counseling sessions and a USD 30,000 fine.

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said D'Souza attempted to illegally contribute over USD 10,000 to a Senate campaign, "willfully undermining the integrity of the campaign finance process. Like many others before him, of all political stripes, he has had to answer for this crime –- here with a felony conviction."

Berman had previously denied D'Souza's pre-trial motion to dismiss the indictment for selective prosecution, ruling that there was "no evidence" to support his allegation.

In sentencing D'Souza, Berman referred to his prior ruling and remarked that "the defendant's claim of selective prosecution, legally speaking, is 'all hat, no cattle'." D'Souza had earlier this month asked the judge to sentence him to probation and community service instead of a prison term, saying he is "disgraced and humiliated" by his actions and is paying a "heavy price for his lapse of judgment."

The Mumbai-native had pleaded guilty on May 20 of attempting to donate USD 20,000 to a Senate campaign through straw donors.

D'Souza, who is also a best-selling conservative author, had come in for severe criticism for his 2012 documentary "2016: Obama's America", with Barack Obama's campaign accusing him of launching a smear campaign against the President and alleging that the movie was a deliberate distortion of Obama's record and world view.

The documentary had equated re-election of Obama with the death and dismemberment of the US.