US hotelier Chatwal avoids jail in illegal donations case

Indian-American hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal today avoided jail time and was sentenced to three years probation and a USD 500,000 fine on charges of illegally donating thousands of dollars to political campaigns.
Chatwal, 70, a Padma Bhushan awardee and major fundraiser for former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had pleaded guilty in April this year to violating the Federal Election Campaign Act by making more than USD 180,000 in campaign donations to three candidates through straw donors and to witness tampering.
He was sentenced today by US District Judge I Leo Glasser in the Eastern District of New York federal court here.

Chatwal was accompanied by his wife and son Vikram along with several friends and family members.
He repeatedly apologised to the judge for his behaviour and said he had been humbled by the experience.
"I apologise for what I have done to my family. I have let them down terribly," Chatwal told the judge.

The judge imposed a sentence of probation of three years and the USD 500,000 fine and said Chatwal should continue doing the community service that his friends and family have detailed in nearly 300 letters of support to the court.
After the sentencing Chatwal told PTI that he is very happy with the verdict.

"The judicial system in this country is very fair," he said adding that he has worked to strengthen Indo-US relations and people-to-people contact and will continue to do so.
Ahead of the sentencing, Chatwal's lawyers had submitted a memorandum seeking leniency, urging the court to weigh Chatwal's age and "lifetime of contribution" to others and the impact imprisonment would have on his family and community in sentencing him.
They had requested that a sentence of probation with substantial community service be imposed on Chatwal to enable him to "make amends by continuing to serve others and take care of his sons," Vivek and Vikram who depend on him to an "exceptional degree" due to their medical disabilities.

Chatwal "comes before this court humbled - filled with remorse and shame for what he has done, knowing that he broke the law and, as a consequence, disappointed the many people who depend on and look up to him," the lawyers had said asking the court to recognise that he is a "good man, albeit one who erred, whose life has been distinguished by a devotion to this country - his adopted home - and a commitment to protecting and uplifting others".