|
 Hastert, 73, is set to appear at 10 a.m. CDT (11:00 a.m. EDT)
before U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin, according to an
arraignment notice entered on Monday.
Hastert, an Illinois Republican, has not made a public statement
since the indictment last week. An attorney for Hastert is not yet
listed in court records.
It was unclear whether Durkin would retain the case. Federal
campaign finance records show that Durkin as an attorney contributed
$500 to Hastert's 2002 re-election campaign and $1,000 to his 2004
campaign.
President Barack Obama nominated Durkin as a federal judge in 2012.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago had no comment.
Hastert, who left Congress in 2007, was charged with structuring the
withdrawal of $952,000 in cash to evade a requirement that banks
report cash transactions over $10,000, and lying to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation about his withdrawals, prosecutors said.
 Various national media reports, citing unnamed law enforcement
officials, have said the cash exchanges had to do with sexual
contact decades ago with a male former student of Hastert's when he
was a high school coach and teacher in Yorkville, Illinois.
Before his terms in Congress, Hastert served three terms as an
Illinois state representative and was a teacher at Yorkville High
School in suburban Chicago for 16 years. Hastert was also a football
and wrestling coach at the high school.
According to the indictment, the unspecified misconduct involved
payments to an unnamed individual who had been a Yorkville resident
and had known Hastert for most of the person's life.
[to top of second column] |
Hastert met with the person several times around 2010 and discussed
past misconduct by the former lawmaker, the indictment said.
Eventually, Hastert agreed to pay the person $3.5 million in
compensation to conceal the misconduct, the indictment said.
Shortly afterward, Hastert began making cash payments to the
individual, according to the indictment. He withdrew $1.7 million in
cash from various domestic bank accounts from 2010 to 2014 and gave
it to the person, the indictment said.
As part of the fallout from the unfolding scandal, Wheaton College,
a Christian liberal arts institution, removed Hastert's name from
its public policy center on Sunday. He graduated from the college in
1964.
Each count in the two-count indictment against Hastert carries a
maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
(Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Walsh)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
