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Dinesh D'Souza gets probation for campaign finance violations

In a documentary movie released this summer, Dinesh D'Souza was called an Obama administration target but has been given a probationary sentence.

By Frances Burns
U.S President Barack Obama. UPI/ Win McNamee/Pool
U.S President Barack Obama. UPI/ Win McNamee/Pool | License Photo

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza, who said he was targeted for prosecution by the Obama administration, was spared a prison term Tuesday.

A federal judge in New York sentenced D'Souza to five years probation, including eight months in community confinement for violations of campaign finance laws. D'Souza was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine and to perform community service.

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D'Souza pleaded guilty in May, admitting that he illegally repaid two donors who made contributions to the unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign of Wendy Long, a Republican and longtime D'Souza friend. But his documentary movie, America: Imagine a World without Her, which came out during the summer, once again suggested he was a victim of political harassment.

Near the end of the movie, there was a brief scene showing D'Souza in handcuffs while a voiceover by Sean Hannity of Fox News called him "the latest victim to be targeted by the Obama White House."

D'Souza, who was born in Bombay and first came to the United States as a high school exchange student, became a conservative editor and writer after he graduated from Dartmouth College. He has been a vocal critic of President Obama, publishing The Roots of Obama's Rage in 2009 and releasing a movie and companion book, Obama's America: Unmaking the American Dream in 2012.

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In court papers, D'Souza's lawyers said he had accepted responsibility for his actions and asked U.S. District Judge Richard Berman to balance his wrongdoing against his many years of contributions to society. Federal prosecutors cited "the defendant's post-plea failure to accept responsibility for his criminal conduct."

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