Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Indicted

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Former Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert was charged Thursday with attempting to evade banks' reporting requirements and lying to the FBI about his actions.

He was charged with structuring a cash withdrawal of $952,000 so as to get around the rule that banks must report such transactions over $10,000. The charges also allege that he lied to the FBI about his actions.

Hastert, a Republican who served as a congressman for Illinois, was the Speaker of the House from 1999 to 2007.

The indictment against him alleges that Hastert agree in 2010 to provide someone with $3.5 million in order to "compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct" against that individual. He then allegedly withdrew about $1.7 million in cash from different accounts between 2010 and 2014 in order to provide the money to that person.

The person to whom Hastert was doling out payments "has been a resident of Yorkville, Illinois" and has known the former Speaker for most of his or her life, according to the indictment. Additionally, it says, that individual spoke with Hastert in 2010 about "past misconduct" that had occurred "years earlier."

Each count carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney in Chicago.

Hastert resigned from his post on the CME Group's board, according to CME.

The indictment notes Hastert has acted as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. from about 2008 to the present.


http://www.cnbc.com/id/102695146

[Marr]

1. I'm going to make a prediction.

I'm guessing it concerns a real estate deal.

I remember a bunch of stories around him years back about... something about bilking his state via fraudulent real estate deals, where land was bought ridiculously cheap and then sold at market rate. I don't know that anything ever came of it.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Lying to the FBI and evading currency rules.

Wolf Blitzer is too much. He said he was formally indicted as if there are informal ones.

[Marr]

3. Ugh, this is going to be fun to watch.

What a corrupt piece of crap.

Also, maybe a 'formal indictment' means he was wearing a black tie, lmao.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Four million dollars worth of blackmail.

What could be worth four million to cover up?

[Warpy]

12. That's what I want to know

especially because so much of it was paid when he was out of power and seemingly had less to lose.

Somehow, I think this is going to be much juicier than crooked real estate, something he was up to his eyeballs in but nobody seemed to care about at the time.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Outside of murder what would you give somebody four million bucks to shut up about?/NT

[Warpy]

19. Oh, maybe half a dozen kids who looked like me (poor kids in his case)

and whose mother was driven to suicide instead of producing another one she didn't want from sex she didn't want, mired in the kind of poverty no one can possibly escape from without winning the lottery and getting very, very lucky with a financial planner who didn't steal it.

Oh, yeah, there's a lot of stuff out there that four million bucks would be a bargain price to keep quiet, especially if the payor was a crooked Congressman who'd stolen ten times that much in office and was looking forward to a quiet life at the 19th Hole, telling everybody what a big shot he used to be.

[HereSince1628]

16. Which career yields hush money payments? HS Teacher/Coach or Politician?

I don't think this has anything to do with his real estate schemes which were pretty bad... allegedly including maneuvering the route of a highway to influence land value.

I'm thinking something more like Sandusky

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. As much as I dislike Republicans I hope that's not true for him and his potential victims./NT

[HereSince1628]

20. I don't wish it to be true...but there isn't much that yields millions in hush money

to the living victim of historic misbehavior.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. I am watching CNN and that is what they are subtly, subtly...implying.

That it has something to do with while he was a h s teacher.

[AngryAmish]

31. Buggery.

He was a wrestling coach.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. This is very sad./NT

[AngryAmish]

43. No. Justice is being served, if cold.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

24. Agree

This is going to be fun to watch

[longship]

26. Or white tie, depending on the time of day of the indictment. nt

[Jamastiene]

52. You mean you can't request that the FBI agents

wear Hawaiian shirts, shorts and flip flops when they come to your house and arrest you? Drat, that's no fun.

[Spazito]

6. He was paying someone 3.5 million dollars to keep quiet about...

"his prior misconduct against Individual A."

"According to the indictment, in 2010, Hastert agreed to provide Individual A $3.5 million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against Individual A."

http://wgntv.com/2015/05/28/former-speaker-of-house-dennis-hastert-indicted-on-corruption-charges/

[JI7]

4. i totally forgot about him until now

[octoberlib]

7. I'm really curious as to what this 'prior misconduct' is about.

[Nye Bevan]

8. This is pretty juicy.

Always interesting when a supposedly dull, boring guy turns out to be mixed up in a multimillion dollar crime. And he seriously thought he could get away with withdrawing $952,000 in cash? What did he do, make 100 withdrawals of $9,520 each, safely under the $10,000 limit?

[Kingofalldems]

9. I bet Hillary conspired with him.

[DFW]

22. Don't laugh. You'll probably read about it at Freeperville

Once they cut and paste it from here, that is.........

[Bernardo de La Paz]

44. Freepers always entertaining (& often sickening): post #4

I can stand them for a few minutes. This took ten seconds:

All well and good, and yet Hillary Clinton has not been charged by the Feds for anything.

4 posted on 5/28/2015, 6:39:42 PM by fhayek

It gets worse and there are multiple threads there.

Dennie is being Lynched

time to get the ropes out for her

5 posted on 5/28/2015, 6:37:15 PM by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... No peace? then no peace!)

[freshwest]

49. That is gross! Eeeww! Pew-pew-pew! n/t

[shenmue]

10. Yaaaaaaaaaay!

[Octafish]

11. Sweaty Denny!

Hope they get around to asking about his Swiss bank account.

[global1]

13. Now Where Does A Congressman Get That Much Money?...nt

[DFW]

25. A lobbyist who was once Speaker can manage that before breakfast

The question is--what did he do that was so bad that he needed to risk paying out seven figures in cash to keep it quiet?

For that matter, these days, what the hell was the recipient of that money gonna spend that kind of cash on anyway without it getting reported? Car dealers and real estate agents have cash reporting requirements, too.

[freshwest]

50. I sooo wanna see Cantor do the perp walk... But IIRC, he legalized his own thievery! n/t

[fredamae]

15. Heh....

I wonder who/what else this might lead to.....

[Raine1967]

17. Interesting. Who is, by chance, *That Person* ?

This is also interesting:

Hastert resigned Thursday from his post on the CME Group's board, according to the company.

The indictment notes Hastert has acted as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., from about 2008 to the present.

I looked up what CME group is. I don;t think that is a lobbying group. What lobbying group did hasted work for?

[Spazito]

28. It is, soon to be was, for the lobbying firm of Dickstein Shapiro it seems...

June 2008 - Joins the Washington lobbying firm of Dickstein Shapiro as a senior advisor.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/us/dennis-hastert-fast-facts/

[Raine1967]

35. Thanks.

That was a good jumping point. I found this as a result. you can find who he lobbied for from year to year.

[Spazito]

37. Good link, thanks!

It is interesting to see who their clients were/are.

[Raine1967]

21. Just a little more here:

http://news.yahoo.com/ex-us-speaker-hastert-indicted-bank-related-charges-214129927--politics.html

Federal prosecutors announced bank-related charges against former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Thursday, accusing the 73-year-old Illinois Republican of withdrawing $952,000 in cash in a way that evaded the requirement that banks report cash transactions over $10,000. He's also accused of lying to the FBI.

Each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago.

I want to know who the person was.

[Kingofalldems]

23. Hopefully he will sing like a little bird.

[metalbot]

38. Likely not

Given that it seems like he was paying someone else nearly $1M to not sing like a little bird.

Though I suspect that there will also be an indictment for black mail on the other side of this, and that bird may sing.

[Cali_Democrat]

29. This makes me want to...

[Jamastiene]

30. And to think, we were always told what a statesman he was.

I always knew he was crooked too. You can tell by the R behind their name.

[hifiguy]

42. The correlation is nearly 1 to 1.

[rurallib]

32. Send the Chicago cops out to get a confession

I understand they use "enhanced interrogation techniques" which Hastert defended while in congress.

[SoCalDem]

34. He should get AT LEAST as much time as Martha Stewart did.

[Mnemosyne]

36. Good. nt

[Hotler]

39. GOOD! n/t

[Hotler]

40. And to add....

wishing we could find some shit on Cheney. Oh please, please, please

[hifiguy]

41. ol' Beefy McBratwurst (c) Stephanie Miller

will look mighty good in prison stripes.

[Caspian Morgan]

45. Wow...

that only took, like, 20 years.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

46. Don't forget the Foley page scandal and Hastert's role: "willfully ignorant"

In a December 2006, the House Ethics Committee determined that Hastert and other congressional leaders were "willfully ignorant" in responding to early warnings of the Mark Foley congressional page scandal, but did not violate any House rules.[19][20]

-- Wikipedia

Kind of plays into the speculation about sexual misconduct from his years as wrestling and football coach?

[MisterP]

47. and in the centenary of "nothing whatever" happening to a million Armenians, no less

[DemocratSinceBirth]

48. I think the person in Post 16 is on to something./NT

[morningfog]

51. Great to hear.