Filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza spared prison over campaign funds violation
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, facing up to two years in prison after pleading guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws, will not be spending time behind bars.
Judge Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court in Manhattan sentenced D’Souza on Tuesday to five years of probation, a $30,000 fine, and eight months in a San Diego “community confinement center” where he will undergo “therapeutic counseling.”
Such a center typically involves a “residence in a halfway house, restitution center, community treatment center, mental health facility, alcohol or drug rehabilitation center, or other community facility.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I've got a big smile on my face," D'Souza told Fox News' Megyn Kelly Tuesday evening on "The Kelly File", later adding "My faith in an independent judiciary is affirmed."
After his indictment in January, D’Souza argued that he was being unfairly targeted by the government due to his politics and criticism of the Obama administration, which he highlighted in his 2012 book and documentary “2016.” However, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office claimed that his actions were “serious and strikes at the heart of our federal election system” and maintained a push for 16 months prison time.
"This was really an effort to put me out of business," D'Souza told Kelly Tuesday. "The government was trying to lock me up."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}D’Souza was charged with illegally organizing for two people to each make $10,000 campaign donations to Wendy E. Long, a friend from his days at Dartmouth College. He pled guilty to the charges in May.
Despite the charge and his claims of being singled out over political points of view, D’Souza went ahead with publishing a new book and releasing the documentary “America: Imagine the World Without Her” over the summer.
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