Scholar behind anti-Obama film avoids jail time

NEW YORK — A conservative scholar behind a high-grossing film condemning President Barack Obama has been sentenced to five years of probation in his campaign finance case.

Dinesh D’Souza, of San Diego, also was fined $30,000 on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. He’ll be required to live for eight months at a confinement center in San Diego and was ordered to do community service.

He pleaded guilty in May to charges he arranged for straw donors to contribute to New York Republican Wendy Long’s failed U.S. Senate bid.

D’Souza was a policy analyst under President Ronald Reagan and is a prolific author known most recently for works critical of Obama. He made the 2012 the documentary “2016: Obama’s America.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS