Dennis Hastert Faces Prison Time

Dennis Hastert Prison
Dennis Hastert Prison

April 27, 2016 is the day Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison for breaking federal banking rules in a scheme to cover up sexual abuse.

John Dennis “Denny” Hastert, born January 2, 1942, is an American former politician and lobbyist from Illinois. A Republican, Hastert was the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented Illinois’s 14th congressional district in the House for twenty years, 1987 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. In 2015, Hastert pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges of structuring financial transactions to conceal payments to an individual whom he alleged had sexually abused decades earlier, when Hastert worked as a high school wrestling coach. In 2016, Hastert admitted that he had molested boys.

On May 29, 2015, after Hastert had been indicted for illicitly “structuring” financial transactions (see below), two people briefed on the evidence from the case stated that “Individual A”—the man to whom Hastert was making payments—had been sexually abused by Hastert during Hastert’s time as a teacher and coach at Yorkville High School, and that Hastert had paid $1.7 million out of the total $3.5 million in promised payment. On the same day, the Los Angeles Times reported that investigators had spoken with a second former student (not the person who was receiving payments from Hastert), who made similar allegations that corroborated what the first student said.

Follow Up: 15 months in Prison for Dennis Hastert

Follow Up: Video

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