Dennis Hastert, the former Republican Speaker of the House who is serving time in prison, wants $1.7 million in hush money back from a man who accused him of sexual abuse.
Hastart began serving his 15-month sentence in June at a federal prison hospital in Minnesota related to the hush money he paid in an effort to hide sexual abuse of students while he served as a high school teacher and wrestling coach more than three decades ago, Politico reported.
He pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of illegally structuring of bank withdrawals related to an agreement to $3.5 million to one of the victims, Politico said. Hastert reportedly had paid $1.7 million of the promised hush money before FBI agents confronted him about his bank withdrawals.
NBC News reported that the accuser, identified as "Individual A," had filed a lawsuit in an attempt to recoup the rest of the money the former Illinois politician had promised him.
Hastert, in response to the lawsuit, has charged in court documents that the plaintiff breached the contract when he talked with authorities about the case, NBC News reported.
"To the extent any contract existed between plaintiff (Individual A) and defendant (Hastert), plaintiff breached that contract," Hastert's lawyers wrote, according to NBC News. "Plaintiff's breach of conduct resulted in damages to defendant and plaintiff is accordingly required to return $1.7 million to defendant."
Individual A's attorney, Kristi Browne, said that it was Hastert who violated the contract by ending payments, NBC News reported.
"Mr. Hastert has decided that rather than live up to his promise to compensate his victim for his molestation and resulting injury, he will ask his victim to pay him," Browne said in a statement, according to NBC News.
"He admits to agreeing to make payments, but then denies that it is an agreement that he has to keep. His response is predictable and we look forward to entering the discovery phase of the case," Brown continued, per NBC News.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin last year called Hastert a "serial child molester" when he sentenced him to prison, two years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, The Daily Beast reported.
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