What if he had somehow been in that office when this happened? What if the Chinese or ISIL found out about it and started blackmailing him, too? What would he have given them in exchange for silence?
This might have already happened!
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What about tax evasion? Did the victim(s) claim the hush money? How does one hide 3.5 Mil?
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Hi Denny remember me? After wrestling practice? You were giving me āpointersā and ruined my life. Thatās gonna cost you bud. 3.5 BIG ones.
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Denny needed to coach those wrestlers. He was passionate about it.
Three and a half million dollars paid out? Who the heck pays that out to keep a secret about how he played with the high school team boys? I think there must be multiple victims if there is one. I bet we are looking at another coach Sandusky style list of offenses over several years affecting the lives of several young men.
And it makes sense that these were sexually abusive offense(s) that happened well before whatever statute of limitations upon prosecutions were in Illinois in the 1970ās: so the Feds are going after him for lying to the FBI, etc., NOT to convict him for a sexual abuse crime. The 3.5 million just is proof positive he knows heās guilty of those past crimes.
It could have been different: Hastert could have become a priest instead of a politician, and then the churchgoers would have to be paying the 3.5 million in actual fines. Since he chose to go from relative obscurity of a high school coach all the way to third in line to the presidency, itās now a scandal of international significance.
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If someone offers to pay you hush money before you ever say a word about divulging the truth, then does blackmail even exist, in a technical sense? If Hastert offered this money to keep the man quiet all these years, without the man ever threatening to reveal their shared secret, it seems the only blackmail is in Hastertās mind.
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āBruceā has probably turned stateās evidence. Also, I imagine he will get plenty of grief from the IRS.
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No, 3.5 million promised, over time; only about half of it ($1.7 million) actually got paid out. Still a staggering amount of money, both paid out and promised.
And yes, it is looking like there may well have been multiple victims, but the US Attorney is not prosecuting those cases.
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Yes, I think the Statute of Limitations would prevent prosecuting other cases. This is a blackmail deal it appears, and Hastert is not being charged with any sexual crime in this case either, likely again due to S of L. He is being charged with illegally structuring payments only at this point. And the person he was paying off likely has given prosecutors info in exchange for immunity.
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Well, blackmail is a defined crime on both federal and state books. The mere implication of a payment being required to keep from revealing information about illegal activity to authorities CAN BE considered āblackmailā. but there are certain exceptions, (hey, the law is never easy).
IF the victim can provide proof to authorities that he or she is indeed the victim of a criminal act, and that his/her silence on the issue involved some need for anonymity, fear of reprisal, etc., then there can be exceptions to a charge of blackmail. Also, sometimes prosecutors go for big fish by āholding harmlessā little fish to get there, a common strategy in law enforcement.
We will learn more about the laws in effect when the āallegedā crime occurred as time advances, and will learn the details and learn more law than we ever knew before now, both state and federal.
Simply to say, if the āallegedā 3.5 million criminal act of ongoing coverup and lying to authorities is more a crime today than the original offense was a prosecutable crime in 1970ās or so, we have our answers. A high school teacher or person of authority in the 1960ās 70ās 80ās pretty much went under the radar for his offenses, got dismissed, went into another line of work, whatever. If it happened now in Illinois, things would be a bit different. Back then, few people were prosecuted for sexual offenses, simply because the legal system often chose to deal with other crimes, not the he-said s/he said type.
Said very well and concisely, however,Hastert also faces a second charge of lying to FBI. Not an insignificant charge for a former Speaker of the House.
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Iām going to bet he didnāt want to turn it on the other person as blackmail/extortion because he didnāt want the story behind it to come out (after all, itās apparently bad enough that he paid millions after his electoral career is over and the statute of limitations has run out), and didnāt realize how much legal trouble he was in himself until it was too late.
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Correct, I left that out. Unfortunately he canāt be charged for the initial crime. I am assuming this kid was under 18, though I suppose it is possible he was a HS senior and 18. That would make it legal, but it might be the āgenderā thing that was embarrassing and required blackmail payments. Shame this was not brought out while he was in office. In 2004, this could have turned the election.
Put him in coach
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The gender thing is hardly an issue in this day and age, especially for someone whose political career is over. The boy was most likely a minor. It was child abuse from the homophobic family values hypocrites. They canāt just admit people are different, and just accept each other as we are instead of piling on and attacking each other for not being 100% the same. Shame on Republican hypocrites.
Iām sorry for his troubles, and the pain of not being able to be himself, but he abused this kid whoās had to live with the pain all his life.
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Because no commercial channel would ever do this, it is a public service.
Itās actually a huge thing for a Republican first of all, but also for a man who is married to a woman and had kids.
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How is it that the very people who have the stones to seek public office are also the ones who betray their public personaās so easily? A political party built on āfamily valuesā in public, is in fact built on hedonism. Go figure.
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Hastert Rule?
Nope, its Rockville, MD. He wrote it to his then girlfriend as a plea for her not to return to Rockville MD.
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