Breaking: Hastert Reaches Plea Deal

By Bill Cameron and Nick Gale, WLS News

(CHICAGO) Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors over bank fraud charges.

Listen to Bill Cameron’s report for WLS radio here:

Attorney’s for Hastert say they reached the deal with prosecutors and the Republican will plead guilty to charges that he paid $3.5 million in hush-money to cover up alleged wrongdoing from his years as a high school teacher, long before he became second in line to the presidency.

A person who was interviewed by the FBI raised allegations that the wrongdoing was sexual in nature. Hastert’s attorneys have blamed the government for improperly leaking details of alleged sexual abuse.

A written plea agreement has been worked out and both sides say it will be handed over to the judge on Monday.

According to the charges, Hastert lied about the reasons he withdrew $952,000 in cash over the previous 2 &1/2 years when he was questioned by the FBI in December.

The judge has set October 28th for Hastert to enter the guilty plea. There is a report that the government insists Hastert serve at least a year in prison.

@ 2015 WLS News