NEW YORK: Dinesh D'Souza, Indian-American conservative commentator, author and maker of a 2012 documentary highly critical of President Barack Obama, was spared prison time for violating federal campaign finance laws.

Manhattan's Indian-American prosecutor Preet Bharara had sought 16 months jail for D'Souza for making $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions in 2012. U.S. district judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan Tuesday instead gave him five years of probation and a $30,000 fine.

He'll also have to spend one eight-hour day each week teaching English at a so-called community confinement centre during the probation period.

Before he was sentenced, D'Souza who had pleaded guilty, endured stern condemnation from Berman and a humiliating, harsh letter from his ex-wife, Dixie D'Souza, that was read aloud, according to New York Daily News.

The 53-year-old author of "The Roots of Obama's Rage" and its accompanying documentary, "2016: Obama's America," enlisted his mistress and an assistant as straw donors for Republican candidate and longtime friend Wendy Long in her U.S. Senate campaign.

D'Souza pleaded guilty in May. "It was a crazy idea, it was a wrong idea, it was a foolish idea," he said Tuesday. "I regret breaking the law."

Conservative allies including Laura Ingraham submitted letters of support to the court, vouching for D'Souza's character and saying he simply made a careless mistake by trying to help Long's longshot campaign.
Source: IANS