Former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been indicted on federal charges which include making false statements to the FBI, the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago says.
Hastert, an Illinois Republican who left office in 2007, agreed to pay $305 million to an acquaintance who blackmailed him.
He then lied to the FBI when asked about suspicious withdrawal of $952,000 in cash from several banks, federal prosecutors said.
He was charged on Thursday with giving about $107 million in cash to the acquaintance, who was identified as individual A.
He paid the money to the individual A in order to “compensate for and conceal (Hastert’s) prior misconduct” against him years earlier, the indictment said.