An Obama-hating conservative filmmaker and author has been busted by the feds for allegedly steering $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Republican Wendy Long’s failed 2012 US Senate bid to defeat incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
Dinesh D’Souza – a former King’s College president who directed the controversial flick “2016: Obama’s America” – was indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan federal court for violating federal campaign finance law, authorities announced Thursday.
D’Souza, the feds said, made illegal contributions to a US Senate campaign in the names of others and then made false statements to the feds about it.
D’Souza, who allegedly reimbursed individuals for the contributions he made, is expected to be arraigned Friday on the charges.
The indictment doesn’t list the candidate he gave the money to, but sources said it was Long.
Under federal law, candidates can’t receive more than $5,000 per contributor for election campaigns.
Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, an Obama appointee, said in a statement “As we have long said, this office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process.”
But D’Souza’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said “it is important to note that the indictment does not allege a corrupt relationship between Mr. D’Souza and the candidate.”
“Simply put, there was no ‘quid pro quo’ in this case, nor was there even any knowledge by the candidate that Campaign Finance Rules may have been violated,” Brafman said.
Born in Mumbai, India, D’Souza, 52, is a former policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan.
Long, who graduated from Dartmouth College in 1982 a year before D’Souza, could not immediately be reached for comment