Abramoff sent to halfway house

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been released from prison and admitted to a halfway house somewhere in the mid-Atlantic region, a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman confirmed.

Abramoff was released Tuesday from a minimum-security federal prison in western Maryland to a halfway house and could be allowed to spend the last few weeks of his sentence in home confinement before his scheduled release date of Dec. 4, spokesman Edmond Ross said.

He was sentenced in 2006 to nearly six years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving the purchase of a Florida casino cruise ship. In 2008, he was sentenced to four years for his role in a wide-ranging corruption scandal that led to the convictions of former Rep. Bob Ney (D-Ohio) and other lobbyists and Bush administration officials.

The sentences were modified to a total of 48 months by court order.