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CHICAGO — Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to investigators in a case where he paid a former student $3.5 million to keep quiet about sexual abuse allegations.
Read the plea agreement here.
Some highlights:
• By pleading guilty, the former House speaker acknowledged that he agreed to pay $3.5 million in hush money to a person who he had known for "most" of that person's life.
"In or about 2010, HASTERT met with Individual A multiple times. During at least one of the meetings, Individual A and HASTERT discussed past misconduct by HASTERT against Individual A that had occurred several decades earlier. During the 2010 meetings and subsequent discussions, HASTERT agreed to provide Individual A $3,500,000 in order to compensate for and keep confidential his prior misconduct against Individual A. Shortly thereafter, HASTERT began providing Individual A cash payments."
In late May, Hastert was indicted for attempting to hide "past misconduct," which was later found to be that as a wrestling coach and high school teacher, he had molested one of his students.
• Hastert faces up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
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