Dennis Hastert 'Earnestly Apologizes' for Sex with Boys

Dennis Hastert is sorry, says his lawyer. "Profoundly sorry," actually, in the words of his lawyer.

On Saturday, after federal prosecutors entered details about the former U.S. Speaker of the House's sexual activities with minors into the court record, his lawyer issued a statement of apology.

"Hastert acknowledges that as a young man he committed transgressions for which he is profoundly sorry. He earnestly apologizes to his former students, family, friends, previous constituents and all others affected by the harm his actions have caused," attorney Thomas Green said in a statement.

The Kendall County Republican, once an obscure Midwest congressman who ascended to the Speaker of the House's chair after a career as a wrestling coach and schoolteacher, found himself ensnared in an FBI investigation into obscure financial crimes in 2014. What Hastert was doing, however, was paying one of the victims to remain silent about Hastert's past sexual behavior with Yorkville High School boys. He'd withdrawn $1.7 million from his banking institutions in small enough sums to avoid reporting the withdrawals to the IRS.

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That victim receiving those "hush money" payoffs, called Individual A in the indictment and subsequent court documents, was just 14 years old when Hastert engaged him in sexual behavior, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. There may be as many as five victims, according to the feds.

As his sentencing approaches, federal prosecutors have detailed in recent in court filings what they've learned about Hastert's urges and abuses.

“The actions at the core of this case took place not on the defendant’s national stage, but in his private one-on-one encounters in an empty locker room and a motel room with minors, that violated the special trust between those young boys and their coach," prosecutors wrote. “Defendant told Individual A to lie down on the bed and take off his underwear.

"Defendant (then) began massaging Individual A’s groin area. It became clear to Individual A that defendant was not touching him in a therapeutic manner to address a wrestling injury, but was touching him in a sexually inappropriate way.”

The victim then slept overnight with Hastert in the hotel.

Hastert is not charged with sex crimes related to his behavior despite the detailed information prosecutors are providing in court papers. Hastert was charged with structuring, a financial crime related to how he moved money from his bank without proper financial reporting.

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The FBI began investigating initially out of fear that the former speaker was being blackmailed or extorted in some way. They learned was using the money, more than $1 million, to pay off one of his former students whom he'd sexually abused during those high school years, according to the federal charges. In 2014, Hastert told FBI agents he was being extorted for $3.5 million.

Under investigation, however, his story fell apart and the sordid details of his abusive past emerged.

In the prosecution filing, a victim identified as Individual B said Hastert performed a sex act on him in the Yorkville High School boys locker room. He was 14.

An Individual C told federal investigators how Hastert, during a therapeutic sports massage, rubbed his genitals.

Another, called Individual D, said Hastert compelled him to engage in sex when he was 17. He also said Hastert watched boys shower while sitting in a "Lazyboy-type" chair near the shower stalls.

On Saturday, as these revelations became public, comedian Andy Richter, a YHS grad, tweeted about his own memories of that chair in the locker room.

Sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of up to six months for the financial crime he's pleaded to, but the federal judge could ignore that and impose a lesser — or more severe — sentence.

“Defendant spent years violating banking laws of which he was fully aware in order to keep secret his sexual abuse of wrestling team members,” the prosecutors wrote in the filing they made Friday. "Defendant’s history and characteristics are marred by stunning hypocrisy.”