Cohen arrives for home confinement after release
Cohen was picked up at a prison in Otisville, New York, about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of New York City, about 1 p.m. by his son and his brother, the attorney, Jeffrey K. Levine, said. Cohen was expected to be fitted for an ankle monitor and then be driven to his Manhattan apartment.
He had been returned to prison on July 9 after being furloughed in May because of concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Thursday ordered Cohen released by 2 p.m. EDT Friday.
On July 9, Cohen and Levine met with probation officials to convert his furlough to a home confinement for the final two years of his three-year sentence. After Cohen questioned a provision that barred him from publishing the book, engaging with news organizations and posting on social media, officials shackled him and returned him to prison.
Cohen may file a lawsuit seeking compensation for his unlawful imprisonment and violation of his First Amendment rights, Levine said.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons, in a statement after the judge's ruling, said that the book played no role in the decision to return Cohen to prison. The bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cohen's departure from prison.
