The identity of a victim of former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s sexual abuse of children while he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach will be made public as part of a civil lawsuit the victim filed to obtain $1.7 million in hush money payments Hastert promised him, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The longest-serving GOP Speaker before Republicans lost control of the House in 2007, the morally and ethically-challenged Hastert served a 13 month prison term after accepting a plea deal for illegally withdrawing funds from a bank to pay for the silence of the victims of his sexual predation. At least four boys, some as young as 14 years old, were abused by Hastert when he was a high school teacher.
In this case, the victim sought payment of a $1.7 million balance of $3.5 million Hastert promised to pay him to keep quiet about his molestation. The judge ruled in favor of Hastert’s attorneys that since this is a breach of contract civil case and not a criminal case, the victim’s name should be made public as part of court filings.
“I’m disappointed, but we’ve always known that was a possibility so we were prepared for it,” the man’s attorney, Kristi Browne, told reporters afterward. “It doesn’t change that we intend to go forward with the trial.”
Hastert had sought the victim’s silence after federal investigators began looking into a series of unusual bank transactions the former Speaker has made in 2014 as investigations into Hastert’s personal and political conduct proceeded. He was not charged with child molestation because the statute of limitations had passed.
At his 2016 sentencing hearing, Hastert admitted that he had “taken advantage of” the boys; however, in depositions for this case, Hastert has denied any sexual contact with the victim took place, saying that he was simply helping the child out with a groin injury.