Ex-House speaker sues sex abuse accuser for $1.7 million
Source: Reuters
U.S. | Thu Jan 19, 2017 | 7:44pm EST
Ex-House speaker sues sex abuse accuser for $1.7 million
Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, serving prison time for a financial crime stemming from a child sex abuse scandal, has filed a lawsuit seeking the return of $1.7 million in hush money the disgraced politician admitted paying to one of his accusers.
The filing was made in response to a breach-of-contract case the unidentified man brought last year claiming Hastert paid only about half of the $3.5 million he had privately promised as compensation for decades of pain and suffering his misconduct had caused.
In Hastert's countersuit, filed on Wednesday in Kendall County Circuit Court in Illinois, he acknowledged paying $1.7 million to the accuser from 2010 and 2014 to buy his silence, but said their verbal agreement was not enforceable.
Hastert also argued the plaintiff himself engaged in a breach of contract by disclosing details of the allegations he made against the former lawmaker.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-crime-hastert-idUSKBN154037