WASHINGTON: Dinesh D'Souza, an Indian-American conservative commentator and author who shot to fame with a highly critical 2012 documentary of President Barack Obama, has pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law.

D'Souza, 53, of San Diego, admitted to exceeding donor limits in 2012 by arranging for others to give to the New York Senate campaign of Republican candidate Wendy Long, Manhattan's Indian-American U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Tuesday.

He also admitted to making false statements about those donations.

A former policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan, D'Souza directed a 2012 documentary, "2016: Obama's America," that was highly critical of President Barack Obama and based on his book "The Roots of Obama's Rage".

According to the indictment, D'Souza and his wife contributed $10,000 to Long's campaign. He then directed associates to contribute on behalf of themselves and their spouses, totalling $20,000. D'Souza was to reimburse them.

Federal election law limits individual campaign contributions to a federal candidate to $2,500 each for a primary and general election campaign.
The law also bars any person from making contributions in the name of others or reimbursing another person's contribution.

Long lost to Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand in 2012.

She and other Republicans, like Senator Ted Cruz, have argued that the government was unfairly targeting D'Souza for his political affiliation, according to CNN.
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