Former House Speaker and U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastertwho in October pled guilty to a financial crimehas asked a Kendall County judge to make the the man to whom he was making hush-money payments give the money back, according to Chicago Tribune.
Hastert is serving time in a Minnesota federal prison. He paid a manknown only as Individual Aabout $1.7 million in order to keep quiet about allegations that Hastert had sexually abused him when Hastert was a high school coach in Yorkville, Illinois. But withdrew the money in such a manner to work around federal reporting requirements.
Individual A, in a lawsuit filed in April, is asking Hastert to pay the remaining money to which Hastert had agreed, about $1.8 million. In a response and counterclaim, made public Jan. 19, Hastert's attorneys said that, if the original contract is indeed enforceable, Individual A would have been in breach of it when he spoke with federal authorities.
"Mr. Hastert has decided that rather than live up to his promise to compensate his victim for his molestation and resulting injury, he will ask his victim to pay him," Individual A's attorney, Kristi Browne, said. "He admits to agreeing to make payments, but then denies that it is an agreement that he has to keep."
Chicago Tribune's story is at trib.in/2k8rGFu .