The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York announced the indictment Thursday evening. According to the indictment, in August 2012 D'Souza directed people to contribute $20,000 to a U.S. Senate candidate's campaign. He later reimbursed those people.
Federal law limits primary and general election campaign contributions to $2,500 each. That means an individual can contribute a maximum of $5,000 to a single candidate.
The Senate candidate was not identified in the indictment.
"As we have long said, this Office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
"If, as alleged, the defendant directed others to make contributions to a Senate campaign and reimbursed them, that is a serious violation of federal campaign finance laws."
D'Souza served as a policy director to President Ronald Reagan. He has been affiliated with numerous conservative think-tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
More recently, D'Souza wrote and directed the 2012 documentary "2016: Obama's America," the apocalyptic look at life in the U.S. under President Barack Obama.