Dennis Hastert Indictment

May 2015 - Former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been indicted for illegally transferring funds to dodge the IRS and lying to the FBI.
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JOHN DENNIS HASTERT defendant JOHN DENNIS UNITED State cash Individual UNITED State Code bank State Code Section withdraw Currency Transaction Report
May 2015 - Former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been indicted for illegally transferring funds to dodge the IRS and lying to the FBI.
About Jack Berlin

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JOHN DENNIS HASTERT defendant JOHN DENNIS UNITED State cash Individual UNITED State Code bank State Code Section withdraw Currency Transaction Report
 
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT  
 
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS 
 
EASTERN DIVISION 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ) 
) 
 
) 
v. 
 
) Violations: Title 18, United States  
 
 
) Code, Section 1001(a)(2); Title 31, 
 
 
) United States Code, 
JOHN DENNIS HASTERT 
) Section 5324(a)(3) 
 
COUNT ONE 
The SPECIAL FEBRUARY 2014 GRAND JURY charges: 
1. 
At times material to this indictment: 
a. 
From approximately 1965 to 1981, defendant JOHN 
DENNIS HASTERT was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville, 
Illinois. From approximately 1981 to 2007, defendant JOHN DENNIS 
HASTERT was an elected public official, including eight years as Speaker of 
the United States House of Representatives. From approximately 2008 to the 
present, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT has worked as a lobbyist in 
Washington, D.C. 
b. 
Individual A has been a resident of Yorkville, Illinois and 
has known defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT most of Individual Aâ€™s life. 
c. 
In or about 2010, Individual A met with defendant JOHN 
DENNIS HASTERT multiple times. During at least one of the meetings, 
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Individual A and defendant discussed past misconduct by defendant against 
Individual A that had occurred years earlier. 
d. During the 2010 meetings and subsequent discussions, 
defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT agreed to provide Individual A $3.5 
million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against 
Individual A.  
e. 
Shortly thereafter, defendant began providing Individual A 
cash payments. 
f. 
From approximately 2010 to 2014, defendant JOHN 
DENNIS HASTERT withdrew a total of approximately $1.7 million in cash 
from various bank accounts he controlled and provided it to Individual A.   
g. 
From approximately June 2010 through April 2012, 
defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT made fifteen $50,000 withdrawals of 
cash from bank accounts he controlled at Old Second Bank, Peopleâ€™s State 
Bank and Castle Bank and provided that cash to Individual A approximately 
every six weeks. 
h. 
Title 31, United States Code, Section 5313(a) and Title 31, 
Code of Federal Regulations, Section 1010.310-313 required domestic 
financial institutions to prepare and file with the Financial Crimes 
Enforcement Network a Currency Transaction Report (Form 104) for any 
transaction or series of transactions involving currency of more than $10,000.   
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i. 
Old Second Bank, Peopleâ€™s State Bank, Castle Bank and 
Chase Bank were domestic financial institutions subject to the Currency 
Transaction Reporting requirements described in the preceding paragraph. 
j. 
In approximately April 2012, pursuant to bank policy and 
federal regulations, bank representatives questioned defendant JOHN 
DENNIS HASTERT about the $50,000 cash withdrawals that he had made. 
k. 
In July 2012, defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT began 
withdrawing cash in increments of less than $10,000. Defendant provided 
that cash to Individual A in an increment of $50,000 at pre-arranged meeting 
places and times.   
l. 
In approximately 2014, defendant JOHN DENNIS 
HASTERT and Individual A changed the timing and amounts of the 
payments so that defendant provided Individual A $100,000 every three 
months. Defendant continued to withdraw cash in increments of less than 
$10,000. Defendant provided that cash in an increment of $100,000 at pre-
arranged meeting places and times.  
m. 
In approximately 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
and Internal Revenue Service, agencies within the executive branch of the 
Government of the United States, began investigating defendant JOHN 
DENNIS HASTERTâ€™s cash withdrawals as possible structuring of currency 
transactions to evade the reporting requirements described above.   
 
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n. 
As of December 8, 2014, the following matters, among 
others, were material to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal 
Revenue Service regarding possible structuring by defendant JOHN DENNIS 
HASTERT: 
i. Whether defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was 
withdrawing less than $10,000 in cash at a time in order to 
evade currency transaction reporting requirements;  
ii. Whether defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was using 
the cash he was withdrawing to cover up past misconduct; 
iii. Whether defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was using 
the cash he was withdrawing for a criminal purpose;  
iv. Whether defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was the 
victim of a criminal extortion related to, among other 
matters, his prior positions in government and was giving 
the cash to another individual as payment; and 
v. Whether defendant JOHN DENNIS HASTERT was using 
the cash for some other purpose, not related to a crime or 
past misconduct. 
 
 
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2. On or about December 8, 2014, in Plano, in the Northern District 
of Illinois, Eastern Division, 
JOHN DENNIS HASTERT, 
defendant herein, did knowingly and willfully make materially false, 
fictitious and fraudulent statements and representations in a matter within 
the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency within the 
executive branch of the Government of the United States, when JOHN 
DENNIS HASTERT was interviewed by agents of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation about his cash withdrawals over the prior four and a half years 
totaling in excess of $1.7 million. Specifically, in response to the agentsâ€™ 
question confirming whether the purpose of the withdrawals was to store 
cash because he did not feel safe with the banking system, as he previously 
indicated, JOHN DENNIS HASTERT stated:  â€œYeah . . . I kept the cash. 
Thatâ€™s what Iâ€™m doing.â€ 
Whereas, in truth and in fact, as JOHN DENNIS HASTERT then well 
knew, this statement was false because: 
(i) 
He had been withdrawing cash from banks and providing the 
cash to Individual A in amounts of $50,000 or $100,000 to satisfy the 
agreement he made with Individual A to provide $3.5 million in order to 
compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against Individual A; and  
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(ii) He had been withdrawing cash in increments of less than $10,000 
to evade currency transaction reporting requirements because he wanted his 
agreement to compensate Individual A to remain secret so as to cover up his 
past misconduct; 
In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2). 
 
 
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COUNT TWO 
The SPECIAL FEBRUARY 2014 GRAND JURY further charges: 
1. 
The allegations contained in paragraphs 1(a)-1(l) of Count One of 
this Indictment are realleged and incorporated herein.  
2. 
Beginning no later than July 2012, and continuing until on or 
around December 6, 2014, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern 
Division, and elsewhere, 
JOHN DENNIS HASTERT, 
defendant herein, did knowingly and for the purpose of evading the reporting 
requirements of Title 31, United States Code, Section 5313(a) and regulations 
prescribed thereunder, structure and assist in structuring transactions at Old 
Second Bank, Peopleâ€™s State Bank, Castle Bank and Chase Bank by 
withdrawing and causing the withdrawal of $952,000 in United States 
currency in amounts under $10,000 in separate transactions on at least 106 
occasions; 
In violation of Title 31, United States Code, Section 5324(a)(3). 
A TRUE BILL: 
 
 
______________________________ 
FOREPERSON 
 
 
_____________________________ 
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY