Hastert To Plead Guilty In Federal Hush Money Case

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert is expected to plead guilty later this month to charges that he agreed to pay $3.5 million to cover up allegations of misconduct and then lied about it to authorities, according to his lawyers.

Hastert, a Republican, led the House for eight years until 2007. Subsequents reports revealed that the money was to pay an unnamed individual who threatened to reveal damaging information about Hastert’s misconduct while at Yorkville High School.

When the Federal Bureau of Investigation asked if the point of the withdrawals was “to store cash because he did not feel safe with the banking system, as he previously indicated”, Hastert allegedly replied, “Yeah …”

The individual who was allegedly receiving hush money from Mr Hastert has not surfaced publicly.

The indictment details payments and a payment plan to an unidentified “Individual A”, by Hastert.

John Gallo an attorney for Hastert said that a written agreement for a plea was worked out in this case.

Reinboldt had told his sister that his first same-sex encounter had been with Hastert, while the former speaker was a wrestling coach.

Hastert’s Washington-based lawyer, Thomas Green, has twice lashed out in court over alleged government leaks in the case, calling allegations reported in the media of sexual abuse in Hastert’s past “unconscionable” and saying a fair trial could be jeopardized. Each count carries a maximum five-year prison term. And the representative who was initially in line to replace Gingrich as Speaker, Bob Livingston, made way for Hastert by resigning from Congress because Hustler magazine was working on story about his own multiple extramarital affairs. Needless to add, Dennis Hastert has been claiming no wrongdoing and has always pleaded “not guilty” earlier.

May 2015: Hastert, 73, charged with evading bank regulations as he withdrew less than $10,000 at a time to make alleged hush money payments, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said in their filing that Hastert responded: “Yeah…”

One criminal analyst said that both sides might have reached a prison sentence for the ex-Speaker as part of the plea, while Hastert’s attorney may seek a charge of probation for his client.