Ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been released from federal prison and is serving his sentence in home confinement.
One of Manafort’s attorneys said the 71-year-old was released Wednesday morning due to concerns over the coronavirus spreading through the federal prison systems.
Manafort was convicted in Virginia for a scheme to defraud banks and taxpayers out of millions of dollars he had amassed through illicit lobbying. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges of not disclosing his lobbying work and tampering with witnesses in a related Washington, D.C., case.
Manafort suffers numerous health conditions that could make him more vulnerable to the coronavirus, including high blood pressure, liver disease and respiratory illness, his attorneys said. He takes 11 daily prescriptions to treat those conditions. The lawyers said he was hospitalized for a heart condition in December and had the flu and bronchitis in February.
Manafort was imprisoned in June of 2018 and was scheduled for release in November 2024. He will serve his home confinement with his wife in a three bedroom apartment in Northern Virginia. His lawyers say he will be able to financially support himself despite having to relinquish $20 million because of his crimes.
See this story at USA Today.