“The conservative author and documentary filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza was spared prison time on Tuesday after pleading guilty earlier this year to violating federal campaign finance laws.

Judge Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court in Manhattan sentenced Mr. D’Souza to five years of probation — including eight months living under supervision in a “community confinement center” in San Diego — and a $30,000 fine. The sentencing brought to a close a high-profile legal battle that began with Mr. D’Souza’s indictment in January on charges that he illegally used straw donors to contribute to a Republican Senate candidate in New York in 2012.

Mr. D’Souza, who has accused President Obama of carrying out the “anticolonial” agenda of his father, a Kenyan economist, initially argued that he had been singled out for prosecution because of his politics. But on the morning in May when he was scheduled to go on trial, he pleaded guilty and expressed remorse to the court for his conduct.”* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from Jonathan Mahler / NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/us/dsouza-is-spared-prison-time-for-campaign-finance-violations.html