Hastert Accuser Sues for $1.8 Million in Compensation

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/us/hastert-accuser-sues-for-1-8-million-in-compensation.html

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CHICAGO — A man who says J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House, molested him decades ago when the man was 14 filed a lawsuit against Mr. Hastert on Monday, saying he was owed $1.8 million of the money he had been promised as compensation for the abuse.

The suit, for breach of contract, says that Mr. Hastert promised to pay him $3.5 million for the pain and suffering that the abuse had caused, but failed to pay the full amount after being charged last year with federal crimes.

The name of the man was not made public in the lawsuit.

The suit was filed in Kendall County, Ill., on the edge of Chicago’s suburbs, where Mr. Hastert worked as a high school wrestling coach in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, and where at least four members of the wrestling team have said he sexually abused them.

The suit adds to a mounting set of legal problems for Mr. Hastert, 74, who is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday in federal court here after pleading guilty to a banking violation tied to the abuse.

The man who sued on Monday — known in his own lawsuit as James Doe and in the federal case against Mr. Hastert as Individual A — was molested when Mr. Hastert asked him to stay alone with him in a motel room during a wrestling camp trip, his lawsuit says.

“For many years to follow, Plaintiff suffered severe panic attacks which led to periods of unemployment, career changes, bouts of depression, hospitalization and long-term psychiatric treatment,” the suit says, noting that the plaintiff’s family had known and trusted Mr. Hastert for years.

In 2008, the lawsuit says, the plaintiff learned that Mr. Hastert had abused someone else as well and met with Mr. Hastert to confront him. “During their discussions, Hastert acknowledged the lifelong pain and suffering he caused Plaintiff,” the lawsuit says.

A lawyer for Mr. Hastert declined to comment on the suit on Monday.

It was the large payments from Mr. Hastert to Individual A starting around 2010 that led the authorities to begin investigating Mr. Hastert. As they investigated the sums and whether they violated bank reporting requirements, the claims of abuse emerged.

At one point, a lawyer for Mr. Hastert told the authorities that his client was being extorted by Individual A over a false claim of abuse, a court filing by prosecutors says. Eventually, after recording conversations between Mr. Hastert and Individual A, the investigators dismissed the notion that it was a case of extortion, or that it was a false claim.

Mr. Hastert was not charged with sexual abuse in the episodes, for which the statutes of limitation have passed. He pleaded guilty in October to illegally structuring bank withdrawals, and prosecutors said he had been using the funds to pay “hush money” for misconduct from years past. The lawsuit filed on Monday said the plaintiff was still owed $1.8 million of the “settlement agreement,” plus interest.

Individual A is not expected to testify at Mr. Hastert’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday, though another victim is expected to, as is the sister of a man, now deceased, who told her he had been abused by Mr. Hastert. Prosecutors have said they believe Mr. Hastert should face as little as no prison time or as much as six months in prison, as suggested under federal guidelines.

Defense lawyers have requested probation for Mr. Hastert, who has had a stroke and other medical problems in recent months. Dozens of people have sent letters to the court on behalf of Mr. Hastert, including his wife, children and brother.