Sexual Misconduct Allegations Behind Ex-Speaker's 'Hush Money' Payoffs: Feds

Dennis Hastert agreed to pay someone $3.5 million to keep quiet about alleged sexual behavior the former U.S. Speaker of the House engaged in as wrestling coach at Yorkville High School, federal sources told the Chicago Tribune.

Hastert, the longest-serving Republican U.S. Speaker of the House in American history and one of Illinois’ most respected political figures in recent memory, was indicted Thursday and accused of evading federal banking regulations and lying to the FBI about his bank withdrawals.

Hastert withdrew $1.7 million from several banks between 2010 to 2014 and gave the cash to a person identified as “Individual A” by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Hastert took the money out of the banks in amounts less than $10,000 to conceal the transactions from bank regulators and avoid the required “currency transaction reports.”

The indictment does not explain why Hastert was withdrawing the money, but does say the 73-year-old former congressman had reached an agreement to pay “Individual A” $3.5 million to keep “to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct.”

Sources tell the Tribune that misconduct was sexual in nature and dates to his time as a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville. He worked at the high school from 1965, after graduating from college, to 1981, when he entered politics.

“It goes back a long way, back to then,” the source told the Tribune. “It has nothing to do with public corruption or a corruption scandal. Or to his time in office.”

When the Tribune asked what, specifically, the payoffs were for, the source replied “It was sex.” A second federal source confirmed.

Yorkville Community School District 115 issued this statement on Friday:

“Yorkville Community Unit School District #115 employed Mr. Dennis Hastert from 1965-1981. The District was first made aware of any concerns regarding Mr. Hastert when the federal indictment was released on May 28, 2015. Yorkville Community Unit School District #115 has no knowledge of Mr. Hastert’s alleged misconduct, nor has any individual contacted the District to report any such misconduct. If requested to do so, the District plans to cooperate fully with the U.S. Attorney’s investigation into this matter.”

If sexual misconduct took place, Hastert cannot be prosecuted. The statute of limitations for any sexual abuse that may have taken place while he was a teacher has expired.

One of Hastert’s former wrestlers, interviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times, said he cannot believe ”The Coach,” as he was known throughout his entire career, could have perpetrated such an act while at the high school. Gary Matlock, now 61, was a state champion at Yorkville High and was coached by Hastert from 1969 to 1973.

“He was like a second father to me — he was like that with all the kids,” Matlock told the Sun-Times. “He was the iconic coach who built a program from the ground up, and treated his students and wrestlers as though they were his own kids.”

Matlock, who credits Hastert with helping him to become a coach himself, told the Sun-Times that neither he nor any of his friends on the wrestling team ever heard talk of Hastert behaving inappropriately.

The national press has descended on Yorkville and Plano, where Hastert lives. Reporters were camped outside of his house and tweeting about the comings and goings of cars.

David Corwin told the Associated Press that his son wrestled for Hastert.

“You won’t get anyone to say anything bad about him out here,” Corwin said.

And yet here he stands accused of crimes related to a coverup of alleged sexual conduct deep in his past.

The indictment states that “Individual A,” a resident of Yorkville, has known Hastert for most of that person’s life. Hastert agreed to begin paying this person in 2010. The FBI began investigating the cash withdrawals in 2013. In an interview with Hastert, the former speaker said he was withdrawing his money for himself because he didn’t trust the banking system.

Most of Hastert’s wealth, estimated between $4 million and $17 million, comes through real estate holdings. Hastert owns a great deal of land outside of the western suburbs in the Kane and Kendall county area near a proposed highway, the Prairie Parkway, that would connect Interstate 80 and Interstate 88. When President Bush approved the Parkway project, Hastert was one of the biggest supporters as a congressman. His ownership of that land has been a source of much controversy.

Politico reports that Hastert’s other sources of income include lobbying for Dickstein Shapiro in Washington, D.C. His biggest clients included a tobacco company, energy companies and transportation companies.

U.S. District Thomas M. Durkin will preside over Hastert’s case. He has not been arrested. He’s expected to appear in court next week.

After his teaching and coaching career, Hastert served in the state legislature until 1986. The Kendall County Republican represented the 14th Congressional District for 20 years, from 1987 to 2007. He served as Speaker of the House from 1999 to 2007. He’s been a Washington, D.C., lobbyist since 2008 but resigned his position after the indictment was announced.

Born in Aurora in 1942, Hastert grew up in Oswego and graduated from Wheaton College in 1964 and from Northern Illinois University in 1967. As a youngster, he worked in his family’s restaurant in Plainfield, according to his biography.

Hastert, a grandfather, has been married to Jean Kahl, a fellow teacher whom he met at Yorkville High School, since 1973. They have two sons, Joshua and Ethan. Joshua is a lobbyist. Ethan, a lawyer, ran unsuccessfully for his father’s congressional seat in 2010.

» RELATED: Dennis Hastert Indicted in ‘Hush Money’ Case. Read the Indictment