On September 23, 2014, conservative critic and bestselling author, Dinesh D'Souza escaped possible jail time after a federal judge sentenced him five-year probation which included a community center confinement for eight months. He pleaded guilty for an illegal campaign contribution violation.

It is really no jail time for the conservative pundit. Dinesh D'Souza is an Indian-American political commentator, filmmaker and author. He is also a frequent critic of US President Barack Obama. He is associated in several conservative organizations and publications including the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover institution and Policy Review. He also served as President Ronald Reagan's policy adviser.

Dinesh D'Souza, the 53-year old renowned author was born in Bombay but came to the US as an exchange student. He graduated from Dartmouth College. He is the writer for several New York Times bestselling books. He released 2016: Obama's America in 2012. It was a documentary film based on Dinesh's 2010 book The Roots of Obama's Rage. Both postulate Barack Obama's attitude toward America that comes from his father's anti-imperialism and from a psychosomatic desire to achieve his father's vision of waning the power of Western imperial states. The film has been the highest-grossing conservative documentary film produced in the US.

However, in January 2014, Dinesh D'Souza was indicted on charges of making illicit political contributions to a 2012 US Senate campaign. He pleaded guilty on May 24, 2014 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to a charge of using straw benefactors to make unlawful political campaign donations. Will Dinesh D' Souza be able to escape possible jail time?

Dinesh D'Souza was accused by federal prosecutors and charged with campaign finance law violations. He was arraigned in a Manhattan federal court. The two charges were for making unlawful campaign contributions, with a maximum sentence of two years' jail time, and causing false statements to be made to the FEC, with a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment. Dinesh D'Souza pleaded guilty to one felony count of making illicit contributions in the names of others. He submitted a letter to the court disagreeing that prosecutors decisively ignored to present an authentic comparison of past sentences for the same offense.

On September 23, 2014, Dinesh D'Souza avoided jail time and was sentenced by US District Judge Richard Berman to eight months in a community confinement center, five years parole and a $30,000 penalty.  The federal judge also said that he must attend weekly therapeutic counseling sessions and perform eight hours of community service per day.

Dinesh D'Souza's sentence is more compassionate than the jail time sought by prosecutors. The prosecutors had sought a 10 to 16 months prison sentence, rejecting defense arguments that Dinesh D'Souza was ashamed and contrite about his crime and deserved probation with community service. He pleaded guilty for campaign finance laws violation in May. Prosecutors said that Dinesh had other individuals donate money to Republican Wendy Long, who was challenging Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in 2012, under the contract that he would recompense them for the donations.

Dinesh D'Souza welcomed the federal judge's verdict sentencing him to 5 years' probation, 8 months in a community confinement center, and $30,000 fine, which rejected the prosecutor's recommendations of jail time.