Conservative director and author Dinesh D'Souza was able to avoid prison time when a judge sentenced him Tuesday to five years of probation for violating campaign finance laws.
Instead of prison time, however, D'Souza will have to spend the first eight months of his probation in a community confinement center, or halfway house, The Wall Street Journal reported.
D'Souza escaped a harsher sentence by pleading guilty in May to charges of making illegal monetary donations to his longtime friend Wendy Long, who in 2012 unsuccessfully ran for a U.S. Senate seat in New York against Kristen Gillibrand. Long was not charged in connection to the case.
D'Souza, who in the past has criticized President Barack Obama, admitted to enlisting two donors to contribute $10,000 each for Long's campaign. He then reimbursed the two "straw donors" for the full amount, a violation of federal campaign laws.
"It was a crazy idea, it was a bad idea," D'Souza, a former president of King's College in New York, said at his sentencing according to Reuters. "I regret breaking the law."
While D'Souza admitted to knowing what he did was wrong, U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said it seemed like D'Souza was skirting responsibility for his actions, according to his previous TV interviews.
D'Souza also initially pleaded not guilty to the charges and accused the Justice Department of punishing him for being Republican.
"[Mr. D'Souza is] a talker, in fact, he's almost a compulsive talker." Berman said, the WSJ reported. "I don't think he's a listener."
Berman also contended he does not think D'Souza deserves prison time. He ordered D'Souza attend weekly therapy sessions and community service once a week in addition to the probation.
In 2012, D'Souza co-directed and starred in "2016 Obama's America," a political documentary that explored the nation's future if Obama was to win a second term. He also served as a policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan.
