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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The whistleblower who exposed the $3.7 billion Ponzi scheme of Wayzata businessman Tom Petters has been transferred back to the Benton County Jail ahead of her release from custody next month.

Deanna Coleman is scheduled to go free Aug. 26 after serving less than a year.

She was transferred to the Benton County Jail in Foley about three weeks ago from a federal minimum-security prison camp in Pekin, Ill.

Coleman's attorney Allan Caplan characterized the transfer as a transition period for Coleman prior to her release. He says it puts the 45-year-old closer to her family in Brainerd.

At her sentencing, U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle praised Coleman for cooperating with prosecutors but also pointed out she was the top assistant to Petters, who got a 50-year sentence.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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