Even though conservative commentator and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza has admitted wrongdoing in a case where he violated campaign finance law, many of his supporters believe he’s being harshly prosecuted for political reasons.

A new development in his case reported by Jonathan Stempel of Reuters seems to confirm their suspicions:

U.S. seeks up to 16 months in prison for Dinesh D’Souza The U.S. government wants conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza to be sentenced to as much as 16 months in prison, following his guilty plea to a campaign finance law violation. In a Wednesday court filing, federal prosecutors rejected defense arguments that D’Souza was “ashamed and contrite” about his crime, had “unequivocally accepted responsibility,” and deserved a sentence of probation with community service. D’Souza, 53, admitted in May to illegally reimbursing two “straw donors” who donated $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign in New York of Wendy Long, a Republican he had known since attending Dartmouth College in the early 1980s. The government said a 10- to 16-month prison sentence was appropriate for D’Souza, and necessary to deter others from abusing the election process, including “well-heeled individuals who are tempted to use their money to help other candidates.”

Perhaps D’Souza should seek counsel from the disgraced 2008 Democratic Party candidate John Edwards.

Edwards avoided jail time for much worse:

John Edwards Escapes Jail Time As All Charges Against Him Are Dropped It’s been a bumpy ride for John Edwards. The disgraced former senator faced six felony charges stemming from the 2008 presidential race in which he was accused of using $1 million in campaign funds to hide his extramarital affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter. Last month, when he was found not guilty on one charge, and a mistrial was declared on the other five, it was unclear whether prosecutors would want to pursue a retrial of the remaining charges.

If that doesn’t work out, perhaps D’Souza could contact New Jersey’s former Democratic governor Jon Corzine who avoided jail after he somehow “lost” over a billion dollars at MF Global.

Bruce Bialosky of National Review takes us on a trip down the 2013 memory hole:

Corzine’s Crime of the Century Last week, a court approved a settlement deal among commodities firm MF Global’s bankruptcy trustees that will reimburse its customers for 93 percent of the value of their accounts, from which about $1.6 billion had disappeared during the firm’s bankruptcy. But even if they eventually see 100 percent of their funds returned, the firm’s misappropriation of customer funds under the leadership of Jon Corzine will remain a shocking example of financial malfeasance. It looks like Corzine could have gotten away with the crime of the century. If you aren’t familiar with Jon Corzine, he is the man Vice President Joe Biden called first during the financial crisis because he considered Corzine “the smartest guy I know about the economy and finance.” Corzine spent much of his career at Goldman Sachs, becoming chairman in 1994. After Goldman Sachs went public, Corzine was forced out of the chairmanship, but he left with a $250–400 million payout. He quickly parlayed that money into a New Jersey U.S. Senate seat, and then the governorship of New Jersey in January 2006, before losing to Chris Christie in the next election.

Isn’t it amazing what you can get away with if there’s a “D” after your name?



