Manafort associate Richard Gates no longer under home confinement

Richard Gates, a business associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is no longer under house arrest, where he was confined following his indictment in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

A U.S. District Court judge scrapped the confinement condition of his bail order on Thursday, NBC News reports, which was part of the original order signed after Gates’s indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller.

JUST IN: Paul Manafort’s business partner, Rick Gates, is no longer subject to home confinement after a judge vacated that condition of his bail in an order signed moments ago.

Manafort remains under home confinement.

— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) January 16, 2018

Gates and Manafort were both put under house arrest in November after both were charged with multiple counts — including money laundering and conspiracy against the U.S. — by Mueller related to their consulting work for a Ukrainian political party.

Attorneys for Gates petitioned the court on several occasions for his temporary release from home confinement. 

After the order in November, Gates asked to be allowed to periodically leave his home to pick up and drop off his children at school. Over the holidays, a judge denied a request by Gates to attend a New Year’s Eve party.