Posted on 05/28/2015 7:49:25 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Former House Speaker Hastert indicted on federal charges(1:13) Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert was indicted on federal charges Thursday, including lying to the FBI in an alleged effort to hide $3.5 million in payments to a person to conceal past misconduct. (Reuters) J. Dennis Hastert, the longest serving Republican speaker in the U.S. House, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges that he violated banking laws in a bid to pay $3.5 million because of past misconduct against an unnamed individual from their hometown west of Chicago.
Hastert, 73, who has been a high-paid lobbyist in Washington since his 2007 retirement, schemed to mask more than $950,000 in withdrawals from various accounts that violated federal banking laws that require disclosure of large cash transactions, according to a seven-page indictment delivered by a grand jury in Chicago.
The indictment did not spell out the exact nature of the prior misconduct by Hastert against the individual from his hometown, Yorkville, but noted that before entering politics in 1981, Hastert spent more than a decade as a teacher and wrestling coach at the local high school. The unnamed individual has known Hastert for most of that persons life, the indictment states.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Lots of innuendo, not many facts. . . but sounds like political attack.
He turned to scum
Blackmail? Sounds like it.
I detest Hastert, but this reminds me of the Cheney, Scooter Libby stuff. Nothing Democrats do is ever worthy of punishment.
He made cash transactions. They were illegal, it seems, because they were . . . large. That’s it. It doesn’t say he stole anything, so you can assume he didn’t. So the real crime must have been thought-crime.
This is a story of a man who told the President - UP yours every time GWB tried to fix, social security, Freddie Ma and Fannie, reduce spending - he and Tom Delay would constantly tell the world “we have cut all we can.” He had more real estate deals that lined his pocket than any other speaker, except Nancy or Lyndon LOL. I’m not surprised that a guy who would cheat on deals, break his word would end up indicted.
“Over five years, Hastert withdrew about $1.7 million in cash from his various bank accounts at one point in 2014 delivering $100,000 a month to the person in question, the indictment alleged.”
That’s a *lot* of scratch. Peanuts compared to Clinton payoffs, but still a lot of scratch.
Yet, Harry Reid has nary an indictment for his shenanigans.
Yet still the Clintons cruise along.
By the way, make sure to get income tax from those getting the money.
LATEST ON DENNIS HASTERT: EX-HOUSE SPEAKER RESIGNS FROM FIRM
7:50 p.m. (CDT)A spokesman for the lobbying and law firm where Hastert worked in Washington, D.C., says the former House speaker has resigned.
The website for Dickstein Shapiro LLC had Hastert's biography as a "featured attorney" as late as Thursday afternoon, but Hastert's contact details appeared to have been removed from the website hours later.
Firm spokesman Jason Huntsman did not have further details.
Excerpt only. . . more to read at AP
So it is now a crime to withdraw your own money ( of which taxes have already been paid )if you do it in amounts just under $10,000. Because he did that, it triggered an investigation from the FBI. He then “lied” to the FBI saying that he was keeping the money in his house. What fu**ing business is it of theirs what he does with the money after he withdraws it. Technically. he didn’t lie. He kept the money in the house, then decided to spend it. As far as I know, paying extortion money isn’t a crime. If so, then Clintons payoffs of hush money to his trysts should be investigated.
I was wondering why he wouldn't have just made payments via the respective attorneys.
Considering that the episode settled for $3.5 million, that the incident or incidents were said to have happened 35 years ago and the Illinois statute of limitation for most crimes is 5 years. It sounds like it's something that he really, really, really didn't want to become widely known.
It's said to be political suicide to be caught with a dead girl or a live boy. That maxim probably holds for the careers of lobbyists, too. Since the individual is apparently alive to receive payments, one possibility might be excluded. It's probably not a dead girl.
I am guessing love child.
$850k for Clinton
$3.5M for Hastert.
But Denny got to keep his trophies...
Cash is almost illegal now.
No.....he’s a former wrestling coach....another male in the end-situation.
The thing is there is no law against a person paying a black-mailer...only against the person attempting a black-mailer. So in this case....they are using the wire-transfer law to go after Hastert.
I would point out this...a wrestling coach/former representative doesn’t sit there and earn millions over their life. They’ve manipulated the system and enriched themselves in various ways....so I don’t feel any compassion for Hastert and the indicated crime. And I would suggest this...by the time he tells the story in court, what jury will convict the guy? He walks away in my humble opinion.
“I am guessing love child.”
I am guessing “raped child”
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