Dennis Hastert's Lawyers Say Sexual Misconduct Wasn't Really Misconduct: Court Filing

CHICAGO, IL — In a court filing unsealed Wednesday, lawyers for former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert argued that his alleged sexual misconduct shouldn’t be considered misconduct at all.

According to the filing, the nature of the sexual conduct with Individual A, one of the alleged victims of Hastert’s sexual abuse and the recipient of Hastert’s structured withdrawals from multiple banks, remains ambiguous.

In an interview with the FBI, IRS, and the United State’s Attorney’s Office, Individual A said he was not sure if Hastert touched or brushed his genitals, according to the court filing.

“While undoubtedly many would consider this episode as described by [Individual A], consisting of a groin rub for a groin pull and a massage, to be misconduct, we are not so certain that the incident qualifies as sexual misconduct, especially for a coach and trainer forty-two years ago,” Hastert’s lawyers wrote.

Originally reported by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, the unsealed filing was in response to a pre-sentencing report filed by prosecutors. Also revealed was that FBI agents wore wires while they questioned Hastert at his home at 8:15 a.m. Dec. 8, 2014.

“Because there are days where you’ve hit multiple banks in the same, in the same day, and withdrawn nine thousand cash from each one. So those were very clear examples or, of structuring when you likely could have made the, the withdrawal from just one account . . . . So, um, they do have enough evidence to charge you,” an FBI agent said in the recording.

The filing also states that Hastert does not contest the allegations of a person identified as Individual D, who said Hastert performed oral sex on him in the Yorkville High School locker room when he was 17.

“Mr. Hastert does not contest the allegations of Individual D, but in all candor he has no current recollection of the episode described by Individual D,” lawyers wrote.

Hastert is not charged with sex crimes related to his behavior despite the detailed information prosecutors are providing in court papers. Hastert was charged with structuring, a financial crime related to how he moved money from his bank without proper financial reporting.

The FBI began investigating initially out of fear that the former speaker was being blackmailed or extorted in some way. They learned Hastert was using the money, more than $1 million, to pay off one of his former students, known only as Individual A, whom he'd sexually abused during those high school years, according to the federal charges. In 2014, Hastert told FBI agents he was being extorted for $3.5 million.

Under investigation, however, his story fell apart and the sordid details of his abusive past emerged.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin said Hastert’s lies over being extorted could come into play when he’s sentenced April 27.

Durkin said during a hearing Wednesday that those lies were not “conduct that’s 40 years old. That’s conduct that’s a year old,” according to the Chicago Tribune. “Among the aggravating factors in this case, that’s a big one.”

Also expected at the sentencing is testimony from Individual D and the sister of one of Hastert’s victims.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the sister is Jolene Burdge, who said in June that her late brother, Steve Reinboldt, told her he had been sexually abused by Hastert.

A statement issued Saturday, April 9, by Hastert's lawyer said that the former speaker of the house is “profoundly sorry.”

"Hastert acknowledges that as a young man he committed transgressions for which he is profoundly sorry. He earnestly apologizes to his former students, family, friends, previous constituents and all others affected by the harm his actions have caused," attorney Thomas Green said in a statement.

In the prosecution filing, a victim identified as Individual B said Hastert performed a sex act on him in the Yorkville High School boys locker room. He was 14.

An Individual C told federal investigators how Hastert, during a therapeutic sports massage, rubbed his genitals.

As his sentencing approaches, federal prosecutors have detailed in recent court filings what they've learned about Hastert's urges and abuses.

“The actions at the core of this case took place not on the defendant’s national stage, but in his private one-on-one encounters in an empty locker room and a motel room with minors, that violated the special trust between those young boys and their coach," prosecutors wrote. “Defendant told Individual A to lie down on the bed and take off his underwear.

"Defendant (then) began massaging Individual A’s groin area. It became clear to Individual A that (the) defendant was not touching him in a therapeutic manner to address a wrestling injury, but was touching him in a sexually inappropriate way.”

The victim then slept overnight with Hastert in the hotel.

Sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of up to six months for the financial crime he's pleaded to, but the federal judge could ignore that and impose a lesser — or more severe — sentence.

“Defendant spent years violating banking laws of which he was fully aware in order to keep secret his sexual abuse of wrestling team members,” the prosecutors wrote in the filing they made Friday. "Defendant’s history and characteristics are marred by stunning hypocrisy.”