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A former businessman who played a role in the public-corruption scandal that rocked the Utah Attorney General's Office has been released from prison two months after he challenged the grounds for his incarceration.

Marc Sessions Jenson was released from state custody on Tuesday following an order issued by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, his attorney, Helen Redd said.

Documents show the board decided to release Jenson last week, after the Utah Attorney General's Office said it was unable to meet an Oct. 1 deadline for a response to the claims in his petition, including that Jenson had failed to pay more than $4 million in restitution owed in a 2005 criminal case.

On Sept. 30, the office sought a 60-day extension of the deadline, saying that Jenson's voluminous petition raised factual allegations that would require significant research, information gathering and fact checking before a response could be prepared.

"It's a lot of information," Bridget Romano, the attorney general's chief civil deputy, said late Wednesday.

"It's not that we sat here and did nothing; we did a lot of things."

Jenson's attorneys objected to any extension, saying the state had about seven weeks to respond to a board request for a response.

The board granted the extension, but also held a review of Jenson's pleadings on Saturday and opted to release him from prison and place him on parole, hearing documents show.

Redd said she was notified of the board's decision over the weekend and that she picked Jenson up at the prison when he was released.

"We are glad they finally made the right decision," said Redd, who drafted the eight-page letter to the board, which included more than 554 pages of supporting documents and evidence.

Jenson, 55, is now home with his family and adjusting to life outside prison, where he had been held for the past four years, including more than two years in solitary confinement for security reasons, Redd said.

In his August petition to the board, Jenson argued his incarceration was based on false statements and factual omissions by lawyers who worked for ex-Attorneys General Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow, including assertions that he had failed to pay about $4 million in restitution.

The money was owed in a 2005 case that was resolved through a plea in abeyance that saw Jenson plead no contest to three third-degree felony counts of sale of unregistered securities — a deal Jenson said was negotiated directly with Shurtleff.

But in 2011, state attorneys claimed Jenson had not paid restitution and a judge sent him to prison for a 10-year sentence.

Jenson's board petition, however, included documents showing that the debts owed to three former business associates had been resolved through other lawsuits or agreements.

The question of restitution payments was a factor in the parole board's decision, board spokesman Greg Johnson said on Wednesday.

"If he really doesn't owe restitution, then he's already served his guideline [term] in prison and paroling him would be a logical decision," Johnson said.

Romano contends that Jenson's payment or nonpayment of restitution is an open question with the board — a fact supported, she said, by its stated decision to hold a restitution hearing to resolve the matter in early 2016.

"Clearly the board has not made a determination about whether or not Mr. Jenson has paid restitution," she said. "Our understanding is what the board has done here is exercise their discretion to release Mr. Jenson based mostly on the time [he] had served."

In 2013, Jenson became a key player in the investigation that left Shurtleff and Swallow charged with multiple felonies when the businessman said the pair pressured him for money and favors before and after he negotiated his plea deal.

Shurtleff and Swallow were charged with multiple public corruption and bribery-related felonies in 2014. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have trial dates set for 2016.

Jenson's attorneys cited his cooperation with state and federal agencies investigating the two former attorneys general as additional reasons that he should be released from prison.

Later Wednesday night, the attorney general's office released a statement further clarifying its position on Jenson's release, saying it "was not asked for input, nor did it oppose Mr. Jenson's petition for parole due to time served.

"By serving almost five years, he was already a likely candidate for parole. The focus of the AGO is getting dollars back to victims in the form of restitution, which the [office] knows Mr. Jenson could not begin to pay until his parole began."

Also cited as grounds for release was Jenson's January acquittal in a separate 2011 criminal case on eight felony counts of communications fraud and money laundering stemming from his role in the failed Mount Holly resort development near Beaver.