Dennis Hastert
⚠️ All Corruption Flags (3)
In May 2015, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was indicted on federal charges of structuring bank withdrawals to evade federal bank reporting requirements, and making false statements to federal investigators. In October 2015, Hastert entered a plea agreement under which he pleaded guilty to the structuring charge (a felony); the false-statements charge was dropped.
In April 2016 court filings, federal prosecutors alleged that the funds Hastert withdrew were hush-money payments to conceal his past sexual abuse of at least four teenage boys (as young as 14) during his years as a wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois (1965–1981). Prosecutors identified him as 'Individual A's' abuser and described a pattern of serial abuse of students on his wrestling team.
On April 27, 2016, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin sentenced Hastert to 15 months in federal prison, 2 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. From the bench, Judge Durkin referred to Hastert as 'a serial child molester.' Hastert was never criminally charged for the underlying sexual abuse because the statute of limitations had expired; he was charged only for the financial structuring that concealed the payments.