Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is being sued for $1.8 million by an alleged sex abuse victim who struck a deal with Hastert to be paid in exchange for his silence, Politico reported Monday. The alleged victim is claiming that Hastert only paid $1.7 million of the $3.5 million negotiated in the deal.
Politico reported the individual filed the lawsuit in Yorkville, Illinois as “James Doe,” but the details of his case match those of “Individual A,” the same person at the center of the federal hush-money case against Hastert. “Individual A” received $50,000 payments from Hastert, and it was those large cash withdrawals that piqued the interest of the FBI and eventually led Hastert to plead guilty to structuring bank withdrawals to evade reporting requirements.
Under the hush-money agreement, Hastert was to pay a total of $3.5 million in exchange for “Individual A’s” silence on prior misconduct against him. The new lawsuit alleges that Hastert sexually abused “Individual A” while on a they were on a high school wrestling trip, Politico reported. Hastert was never charged for sexual abuse.
Politico reported that while Hastert had paid $1.7 million to the accuser so far, but the victim wanted to be paid out in full as damages for years of “severe panic attacks which lead [sic] to periods of unemployment, career changes, bouts of depression, hospitalization, and long-term psychiatric treatment.”
Hastert is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in the hush-money case.
