Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Indicted

Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million in hush money to keep a person from the town where he was a longtime high school teacher silent about "prior misconduct" by the Illinois Republican who once was second in line to the U.S. presidency, according to a federal grand jury indictment handed down Thursday.

The indictment, which doesn't describe the alleged misconduct by Hastert, charges the 73-year-old with one count of evading bank regulations by withdrawing $952,000 in increments of less than $10,000 to skirt reporting requirements. He also is charged with one count of lying to the FBI about the reason for the unusual withdrawals. [...]

It notes that Hastert was a high school teacher and coach from 1965 to 1981 in suburban Yorkville, about 50 miles west of Chicago. While the indictment says Individual A has been a resident of Yorkville and has known Hastert most of Individual A's life, it doesn't describe their relationship. [...]

Legal experts said extortion cases can be tricky. In mulling over whom to charge, prosecutors often must decide who is the greater victim: the person being extorted or the person doing the extorting, said Chicago-based attorney and former federal prosecutor Phil Turner.

source: Article 'Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Indicted' by Michael Tarm; www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/28/dennis-hastert-indicted_n_7464262.html; Huffington Post; 28 May 2015