‘Individual A’ sues Hastert for money

Associated Press

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 Monday, saying he’s owed more than half of the money Hastert promised.

The man, identified in court documents as “Individual A,” filed the lawsuit in Yorkville, the northern Illinois city where Hastert was a high-school teacher and wrestling coach when, prosecutors believe, he molested at least four boys decades ago.

Prosecutors said the statute of limitations on the sex crimes ran out long ago, so they could only charge the 74-year-old Republican with dodging banking regulations for when he withdrew the hush money. Hastert pleaded guilty to the federal banking charges in October and is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in Chicago. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Hastert’s attorneys, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.

In the lawsuit, the man said he was 14 years old when Hastert offered to take him to a wrestling camp, before he went to high school. The man said Hastert sexually abused him in a motel room where he and Hastert were staying alone, adding that Hastert was a “trusted friend” of his family.