Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert Caught Paying Millions Under the Table

Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House and the Republican to hold the office the longest in U.S. history, was charged on Thursday for two alleged felonies. The Intercept reports that the first charge is for “withdrawing cash from his bank accounts in amounts and patterns designed to hide the payments;” the second charge is “lying to the FBI about the purpose of those withdraws once they detected them and then inquired with him.”

Hastert, 73, reportedly agreed to pay $3.5 million to an unnamed individual to “cover up past misconduct,” according to the indictment.

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Why Did Dennis Hastert Get Indicted?

According to the indictment, an unidentified individual and Hastert met in 2010 and made a payment arrangement to cover up past misconduct — in other words, “to keep something quiet,” as The Washington Post described. It is unclear what the “past misconduct” was, but the Los Angeles Times reported Friday that two federal law enforcement officials said Hastert was trying to conceal sexual misconduct. Although the individual in question has not been identified, the person has been a resident of Yorkville, III., and has known Hastert most of his or her life.

After an investigation launched by the FBI in 2013, Hastert was charged by a federal grand jury in Chicago for withdrawing approximately $1.7 million in cash from various banks between 2010 and 2014. He allegedly had been planning to pay a total of $3.5 million to the unnamed individual.

Hastert started out by paying $50,000 in cash to the person in question every six weeks for 15 exchanges, reports the New York Times. In 2012, bank officials questioned him because cash withdrawals in excess of $10,000 need to be reported. Following the questioning, Hastert allegedly changed the payment amounts to less than $10,000 and continued making payments to the individual.

In December 2014, Hastert faced the FBI in a series of questions and said, “I kept the cash. That’s what I’m doing,” according to The Times.

Hastert Faces 10 Years in Prison and $500,000 in Fines

According to NPR, the maximum sentence for each count is approximately five years. Additionally, he faces up to $500,000 in fines.

His current and former colleagues have expressed extreme surprise over the indictment. For example, Rick Santorum told CNN, “It doesn’t make any sense to me. It certainly seems very much out of character.”

Hastert served more than 20 years in Congress, eight of which he served as House Speaker. He represented a suburban Chicago district and was also a former high school teacher and wrestling coach, according to NPR. He entered Congress in 1987, and The Washington Post reports back then he had a net worth of less than $270,000. Hastert reportedly resigned with a net worth between $4 million and $17 million.

Photo credit: Angela Farley/Shutterstock.com

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert Caught Paying Millions Under the Table

This article by Misha Euceph first appeared on GoBankingRates.com and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.