A man federal prosecutors say was sexually abused by former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Dennis Hastert is suing for the rest of the money he says Hastert agreed to pay him to keep quiet about the sexual abuse.
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The person known as Individual A in court documents filed the lawsuit Monday in Yorkville, the northern IL city where Hastert allegedly abused several boys while he was a wrestling coach at Yorkville High School.In the lawsuit, Individual A says hes owed $1.8 million under the agreement.
According to the New York Times, a lawsuit against Hastert was filed on April 25 in Kendall County, Illinois accusing him of sexual molestation and payment of $1.8 million for compensation.
“For many years to follow, plaintiff suffered severe panic attacks which (led) to periods of unemployment, career changes, bouts of depression, hospitalization and long-term psychiatric treatment”, the complaint read.
Hastert is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday for illegal structuring of bank withdrawals as part of an effort to secretly pay off the former student for decades-old misconduct, federal prosecutors say.
He did not confront Hastert until 2008 when he spoke with another person who claims to have also been molested by Hastert. They have asked for probation for the ailing, once-beloved 74-year-old pariah in an apologetic plea for mercy filed earlier this month. When they finally did confirm it, they went into graphic detail, including how Hastert would sit in a recliner chair in the locker room with a direct view of the showers. Hastert pleaded guilty in October to breaking banking laws. Prosecutors did not recommend a specific sentence, but their reference to sexual abuse on almost every page of their 26-page sentencing memo strongly suggests they want notable prison time for Hastert.
Hastert made 15 withdrawals of $50,000 – for a total of $750,000 – from 2010 to 2012. Prosecutors only confirmed at a March hearing that sex-abuse claims were at its core.
Former California Rep. John Doolittle said Hastert was “often referred to as, “Coach” ” and looked out for his fellow members of Congress. The boy was ordered onto a bed and Hastert allegedly old him to strip off his trousers and underwear. Doe suggested $3.5 million when Hastert asked him how much would compensate him.
But it wasn’t until 2008, when the man said he learned he wasn’t Hastert’s only victim, that he confronted the powerful former IL congressman, who as speaker of the House was third in line to the presidency.
Hastert reportedly paid Individual A $1.7 million before he was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the withdrawals.
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Hastert agreed to let investigators record phone conversations he had with the man, and prosecutors concluded the man’s tone and comments “were inconsistent with someone committing extortion”. Hastert was a wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in the 1970s and was a trusted friend to Individual A and his family. Doe then met with Hastert to discuss what he had done, according to the lawsuit.
