Who is Paul Manafort?

FORMER Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released from prison due to concerns over coronavirus and will serve the rest of his seven-year sentence in home confinement.
Manafort, 71, was released in May of 2020 from a low-security prison in Pennsylvania, according to his lawyer.
He had been in jail since 2018.
Why was Paul Manafort in prison?
Manafort was convicted of multiple financial crimes as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
He was prosecuted in two federal courts, was convicted by a jury in federal court in Virginia in 2018 and later pleaded guilty in Washington.
Manafort was sentenced in March of 2019 and was immediately hit with state charges in New York after prosecutors accused him of giving false information on a mortgage loan application.
A New York judge threw out state mortgage fraud charges, ruling that the criminal case was too similar to one that already put Manafort in prison.
The Virginia jury found him guilty of five counts of falsifying income tax returns, one count of failing to report his foreign accounts, and two counts of bank fraud.
Mueller was investigating Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election, won by Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton
Manafort, a former lawyer and political consultant, had served as chairman of Trump's presidential campaign.
Is Paul Manafort married?
He has been married to lawyer Kathleen Bond Manafort since 1978.
The couple have two children together.
She stood by her husband during his court proceedings, according to .
Younger daughter Andrea wrote in an impact statement to the court last year that her father was a devoted parent and loving husband who taught her that “family, friends, and community are more important than everything else," reported.
Why was Paul Manafort released from prison?
Prison advocates and congressional leaders have been pressing the Justice Department for weeks to release at-risk inmates.
They argue that the COVID-19 public health guidance to stay six feet away from other people is nearly impossible behind bars.
Manafort's lawyers had asked the Bureau of Prisons to release him to home confinement, arguing that he was at high risk for coronavirus because of his age and preexisting medical conditions.
Manafort was rushed to the hospital after an apparent heart attack in December.
Priority is supposed to be given to those inmates who have served half of their sentence or inmates with 18 months or less left and who served at least 25 percent of their time.
The Bureau of Prisons does have discretion about who can be released.
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Other high-profile inmates such as Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and lawyer Michael Avenatti have also been told they will be set free.
Accused sexual predator R Kelly and others have been denied in their attempts to be released.
A Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said more than 2,400 inmates have been moved to home confinement since March 26.