Ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert Pleads Guilty in Hush-Money Case
- Faces as long as six months in jail for evading bank rules
- Case said tied to payoffs aimed at hiding sexual misconduct
Former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, center, arrives at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Oct. 28, 2015, in Chicago.
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J. Dennis Hastert, who as Speaker of the House was second in line to the U.S. presidency, pleaded guilty to evading bank reporting laws in a scheme to hide payoffs meant to keep secret decades-old sexual “misconduct.”
Prosecutors recommended the former Republican Congressman from Plano, Illinois, serve between zero and six months in jail on the charge, which carries a maximum five-year term. The 73-year-old admitted he withdrew almost $1 million from bank accounts in increments below a $10,000 reporting trigger to pay an unidentified individual.