Judge grounds Manafort's business partner for New Year's

Image: Rick Gates
Rick Gates arrives at Federal District Court on Nov. 2, 2017, in Washington. Copyright Andrew Harnik AP
Copyright Andrew Harnik AP
By Tom Winter and Tracy Connor with NBC News
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Rick Gates has made repeated requests for changes to his home confinement since he and Paul Manafort were charged with conspiracy.

A federal judge seems to be losing her patience with repeated requests by Paul Manafort's business partner and co-defendant to relax his home confinement for the holiday season.

Rick Gates, who was charged with conspiracy by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, filed a motion requesting permission to leave his home for New Year's activities with his family.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied it on Friday, pointing out that even though she had set a firm deadline for changes, Gates had previously made a late request to attend a Christmas event and was allowed to go.

"After all of that, on December 28, 2017, defendant Gates filed yet another motion, with a new plan for New Year's celebrations," Jackson wrote.

"Given the untimely filing of the current motion, it will be denied."

The judge had previously chastised Gates for his appearance in a fundraising video while a court-issued gag order is in effect.

She previously warned Manafort — Donald Trump's former campaign chief — that work he did on an op-ed in a Ukrainian newspaper could be viewed as an attempt to circumvent the gag order.

Gates and Manafort were put onhouse arrest after being indicted in a money-laundering case that spun off from Mueller's probe of Russian meddling in the U.S. election. They have pleaded not guilty.

Both have been trying to work out a deal with prosecutors to be released on bail. Manafort recently agreed to put up some of his properties as collateral for a $10 million bail package that would allow him to move from Virginia to his Florida home as long he abides by a curfew and wears an ankle bracelet.

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