Sivasubramani Rajaram lied to a federal grand jury investigating Cook County circuit court Clerk Dorothy Brown.

Federal authorities say the Des Plaines man also lied twice to the FBI and bought his job in Brown’s office with a $15,000 “loan.”

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman sentenced Rajaram to three years of probation after Rajaram said he lied because he feared retaliation. Rajaram said the stress of his prosecution has caused him to be hospitalized twice — once in July and once in January — for mental health issues.

Coleman said it is “paramount” that Rajaram undergo mental health treatment. Earlier, the judge said Rajaram’s lies “do not appear to be the lie of the century” and asked a federal prosecutor if it caused the investigation of Brown and her office to fall apart.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather McShain replied that “the grand jury has never heard the truth” from Rajaram.

Before the judge handed down her sentence, Rajaram’s daughters pleaded for mercy for their father. They told Coleman their Indian culture revolves around honor, that they “do arranged marriages” and that they would not be able to find husbands if their father went to prison.

Rajaram’s prosecution opened a small window into the investigation of Brown and her office. After returning to Chicago from India in August 2014, the former clerk’s office employee loaned $15,000 to a company tied to Brown and her husband before being rehired by Brown on Sept. 8, 2014. McShain said Rajaram told two lies on Oct. 1, 2015, to a federal grand jury that had been looking into job and promotion purchasing inside the clerk’s office. Rajaram testified he hadn’t spoken to Brown since his rehiring and he said he had spoken to a high-ranking clerk’s office employee “maybe like three or four times” during that period, but not by phone.

Federal agents seized Brown’s phone in October 2015 and found five calls and 26 text messages exchanged with Rajaram’s phone between August 2014 and January 2015.

This month, McShain accused Rajaram of bribing his way into a job at Brown’s office. She said another employee also loaned $10,000 in July 2014 to Goat Masters Corporation, the company tied to Brown and her husband.

Neither Brown nor her husband, Benton Cook III, has been charged with any crime. Brown won re-election last year despite the publicity surrounding the investigation, even after Cook County’s Democratic Party leaders withdrew their endorsement of Brown and threw their support behind another candidate.

• This report was produced in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For related coverage, check chicago.suntimes.com.