Hastert Reportedly Paid Individual From His Past To Hide Sexual Misconduct

www.buzzfeed.com ^ | 05-29-2015 | John Stanton, Andrew Kaczynski, Evan McMorris-Santoro

[Red Badger]

What We Know So Far

Hastert, the former Speaker of the House, was indicted Thursday on federal charges of evading reporting requirements and lying to the FBI The Illinois Republican allegedly agreed to pay an unnamed individual $3.5 million for previous misconduct

Source: Investigators considered including a second alleged victim in the Hastert indictment, but ultimately chose not to do so.

A source familiar with the investigation told BuzzFeed News that U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon considered but did not pursue additional charges against former Speaker Dennis Hastert, which would have included a reference to an Individual B, one of potentially several alleged victims of “prior misdeeds.”

According to this source, no additional charges are expected to be filed against Hastert at this point.

The Department of Justice had no comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois didn’t respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for representing Hastert in another pending legal matter didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Hastert reportedly paid a person from his past to conceal sexual misconduct, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Times reported:

Indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was paying an individual from his past to conceal sexual misconduct, two federal law enforcement officials said Friday.

One of the officials, who would not speak publicly about the federal charges in Chicago, said “Individual A,” as the person is described in Thursday’s federal indictment, was a man and that the alleged misconduct was unrelated to Hastert’s tenure in Congress. The actions date to Hastert’s time as a Yorkville, Ill., high school wrestling coach and teacher, the official said.

Posted at 12:45 p.m., May. 29 The Yorkville school district said Friday that officials there had “no knowledge of Mr. Hastert’s alleged misconduct” before Thursday.

Here’s the full statement:

Yorkville Community Unit School District #115 employed Mr. Dennis Hastert from 1965-1981. The District was first made aware of any concerns regarding Mr. Hastert when the federal indictment was released on May 28, 2015.

Yorkville Community Unit School District #115 has no knowledge of Mr. Hastert’s alleged misconduct, nor has any individual contacted the District to report any such misconduct. If requested to do so, the District plans to cooperate fully with the U.S. Attorney’s investigation into this matter.

Hastert, left, in 1975 as a wrestling coach. The Pantagraph

Former colleagues described Hastert as a “straight arrow” who was more focused on coaching wrestling than classroom teaching.

BuzzFeed News spoke with Maria Steiner, a teacher who taught French and Spanish at Yorktown High School from 1976 to 1980. Reached at her home in Ponte Verdra Beach, Florida, Thursday night, Steiner recalled Hastert as a dedicated wrestling coach who gave his teaching responsibilities less than his full attention.

“He was just the kind of teacher that would drive me crazy,” she said. “He would show movies in his class while he worked on wrestling stuff. He was kind of a slacker teacher.”

But, Steiner added, Hastert “was big in wrestling and that was big in Yorkville, Illinois.”

Hastert’s assistant wrestling coach, Anthony Houle, described as “straight arrow.”

“He was a straight arrow, nothing was hidden,” Houle told BuzzFeed News. “It was a small town, if you farted it was going to be big news.”

Sources: U.S. Attorney agreed to withhold details of Hastert’s alleged “misconduct” in indictment

WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon agreed to withhold details of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s alleged “prior misconduct” against an unidentified individual as part of an indictment against the Illinois Republican, two sources familiar with the case told BuzzFeed News.

Fardon announced the indictment — which charges that Hastert illegally evaded reporting transfers of large sums of money and of lying to the FBI — Thursday afternoon. Although the indictment says Hastert agreed to pay “Individual A” $3.5 million” in order to compensate for and conceal “prior misconduct” it does not include details of the alleged misconduct nor the identity of Individual A.

Fardon’s spokeswoman, Kimberly Nerheim, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

According to sources familiar with the case, Fardon had originally been prepared to move forward with a much more explicit indictment of Hastert, who prior to serving in Congress was a high school teacher and wrestling coach for more than 15 years in Yorkville, Illinois.

But Fardon’s office ultimately agreed to limit the amount of information in the indictment, according to these sources, in part because of a request from Hastert’s attorneys.

[az wildkitten]

Where did a teacher/”poor Congressman” get 3.5 mil. to pay somebody off?

[Red Badger]

Good question, but that is not what he’s being charged with. Maybe that’s next and will come out in discovery. Real estate, or so I’ve read...........

[Vinnie]

He entered Congress in 1987 with a net worth of no more than $270,000 and then exited worth somewhere between $4 million and $17 million, according to congressional disclosure documents."

The new American formula for making a fortune.
Politician

[Ken H]

The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (or BSA, or otherwise known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act) requires financial institutions in the United States to assist U.S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering.

Specifically, the act requires financial institutions to keep records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments, and file reports of cash purchases of these negotiable instruments of more than $10,000 (daily aggregate amount), and to report suspicious activity that might signify money laundering, tax evasion, or other criminal activities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act

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It's a legacy from the early years of the drug war. Hastert was a big time supporter, so he is being hoist on his own petard.

[TomGuy]

to agree to pay someone 3.5 Million to keep quiet tells you whatever it was, would have destroyed him

I have made similar comments. But, it seems the timeline is screwy: He negotiated with the guy in 2010 and began payments shortly after.

Why then? He was no longer in public life. Why not decades ago when exposure could have impacted Hastert's political career?

There is something that does not sound right with the story. Also, the 'leaked' details seem cloudy about who Hastert was actually paying the money to: the kid (now grown), or to a recipient knowledgeable of the incident(s) but not necessarily the participant.

One 'leak' said the officials knew of another individual involved in similar activity but the officials declined to include that in this indictment.

We will have to wait for more leaks. lol.

[TomGuy]

Where did a teacher/”poor Congressman” get 3.5 mil. to pay somebody off?

Per various thread posts and linked articles, Hastert entered Congress with a net worth of about $270k. When he left Congress he had a net worth of between $4 and $17 million.

Must be investing a lot of his Congressional salary (probably averaged around $150k per year) in cattle futures.

[wiggen]

you would think intent should be factored in but its not. This needs be a 2 step law. Evading reporting limits in the execution of an illegal act. Not just taking out cash in a manner the govt doesn’t approve of.

[SaraJohnson]

Does the pervert have a beard?

No wonder they could not do much about Clinton. The GOP is just as disgusting.

[jaz.357]

Now we are seeing why the Republicans are so weak. They are being blackmailed.

[PeterPrinciple]

That’s against the law - for some reason.

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There would also be gift tax considerations...........

[Red Badger]

Probably not since the supposed incidents happened 40+ years ago.......

[Red Badger]

You are pandering?........

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 05-29-2015. The recent revival of this as a "news" story has *nothing to do with* the current election campaign, *I'm sure of it.* Thanks Red Badger.

[dfwgator]

"So, you like movies about Gladiators?"

[Red Badger]

..........or Tarzan movies?...........................