Political pundit Dinesh D'Souza cops plea to making illegal campaign donations

Alec Tabak/for New York Daily News

Right-wing author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza copped a guilty plea Tuesday, admitting he made illegal political contributions through straw donors.

'I deeply regret my conduct,' he told a judge in New York.

D'Souza wrote the 2010 book, 'The Roots of Obama's Rage' and co-directed the 2012 documentary, '2016: Obama's America.'

The conservative pundit's trial had been slated to begin Tuesday.

Last week, Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Berman shot down D'Souza's claim that he was being prosecuted as retribution for his criticism of President Obama.

Busted in January for skirting a $5,000 cap by reimbursing his friends for $20,000 in donations to the 2012 U.S. Senate campaign of New York Republican Wendy Long, D'Souza, 53, was initially charged with one count of illegal contributions and one count of false statements, both felonies.

In a plea agreement with prosecutors Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to the illegal contribution count.

The feds will dismiss the false statements count when D'Souza is sentenced on Sept. 23. The illegal contributions count carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison, but his plea deal calls for 10 to 16 months behind bars.

D'Souza will likely seek a more lenient sentence but may be fined up to $250,000.

'I knew that causing a campaign contribution to be made in the name of another was wrong and something the law forbids,' D'Souza, wearing a black suit and colorful tie, said softly in court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Cohen said Long would have testified against D'Souza at trial, along with gal pal Denise Joseph and aide Tyler Vawser.

D'Souza's lawyer said, as recently as last week, his client had no intention of pleading guilty.

But prosecutors have said a recording made secretly by Joseph's husband suggests otherwise.

Months before D'Souza was arrested, Joseph told her husband D'Souza planned to plead guilty if caught, according to the feds.

He would first plead not guilty because that would allow him 'a window of opportunity to his story out there,' Joseph said on the tape, according to prosecutors.