CHICAGO — A man who alleges he was sexually abused by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and later promised $3.5 million to stay quiet filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit on Monday, saying he’s owed more than half of the money Hastert promised.
The person, identified in court documents only as “Individual A, filed the lawsuit in Yorkville, the northern Illinois city where Hastert allegedly abused the man decades ago and other boys while a high school wrestling coach.
Hastert has pleaded guilty to breaking federal banking rules in a scheme to cover up sexual abuse. He is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Chicago on those charges and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Prosecutors allege that the 74-year-old Republican molested at least four former students when he was a teacher and wrestling coach, but only charged him with violating federal banking rules because the statute of limitations on the sex crimes ran out decades ago.
Hastert’s attorneys, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, the man says it wasn’t until 2008, when he learned he wasn’t Hastert’s only victim, that he confronted Hastert and asked him to be compensated for the pain and suffering Hastert had caused him. He said the two agreed to the $3.5 million that the man suggested.
The lawsuit alleges that Hastert paid the man a total of $1.7 million between June of 2010 and December of 2014, but that he hasn’t paid the rest.
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