By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--June 1, 2015
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The individual is a man who said he had sexual contact with Mr. Hastert decades ago, according to the people familiar with the matter. In 2010, according the indictment, Mr. Hastert agreed to pay the man $3.5 million over a period of years to keep him from disclosing the alleged misconduct. The identity of the individual and details of the alleged misconduct couldn’t immediately be determined. A series of large cash withdrawals by Mr. Hastert made bankers suspicious, so they questioned him, according to the indictment. After that, he began withdrawing money in increments of less than $10,000 each to avoid breaching a threshold above which banks must report transactions, the indictment said. That, the Justice Department said, violated a law against “structuring” cash transactions to avoid the reporting rule. Mr. Hastert is also charged with lying to the Federal Bureau of the Investigation about the purpose of the withdrawals. Each of the two counts of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Legal experts said punishments for such crimes are typically less stiff, usually six months in prison or even probation. Mr. Hastert, 73 years old, has been married for more than 40 years and has two sons. He resigned on Thursday from Dickstein Shapiro LLP, the law firm where he worked as a lobbyist.
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