Speaker Dennis Hastert negotiates guilty plea over 'hush money' for 'sex contact'

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Hastert's attorneys are talking with prosecutors about a possible plea deal
A plea would keep details of the scandal secret
Hastert, 73, was allegedly trying to evade detection of $3.5 million he promised to make to someone from his hometown of Yorkville, Illinois
Law enforcement officials have said the misconduct Hastert was trying to cover up was 'sexual contact with a male'
He initially pleaded not guilty to violating banking laws and lying to the FBI
Hastert was a teacher and coached high school wrestling until 1981
He has been married for 42 years and has two adult children

By Associated Press Reporter and Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 10:11 EST, 28 September 2015 | Updated: 12:00 EST, 28 September 2015

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Prosecutors and defense attorneys for former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert have told a federal judge they're talking about a possible plea deal in the Republican's hush-money case.

The disclosure came Monday during a hearing in federal court in Chicago for the 73-year-old Republican. Details weren't immediately released.

The one-time teacher and wrestling coach has pleaded not guilty to violating banking laws and lying to the FBI.

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Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's attorneys are talking with prosecutors about a possible plea deal in the Republican's hush-money case, both sides told a federal judge Monday

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, right, departs the federal courthouse with his attorney Thomas C. Green in Chicago after his arraignment in June

A May indictment says Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to someone, identified only as 'Individual A,' to hide past misconduct.

It has been claimed that 'Individual A' is a victim of sexual abuse that Hastert was attempting to silence.

The Associated Press and other media, citing anonymous sources, have reported the payments were intended to conceal claims of sexual misconduct decades ago.

Law enforcement officials have said the misconduct Hastert was trying to cover up was sexual contact with a male, according to reports.

It is believed to be linked to his days as a high school teacher.

The Illinois Republican has not made any statements since he was indicted on May 28.

Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in the 1960s and 1970s.

Thomas Green, a prominent Washington, D.C., white-collar defense attorney with the Sidley Austin law firm, will represent Hastert, according to court documents and the law firm. Green declined to comment on the case.

Hastert led the House for eight years before leaving Congress in 2007. He was the longest-ever serving Republican Speaker.

Former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert (pictured with his wife Jean in 2007) originally pleaded not guilty to violating banking laws and lying to the FBI

After the indictment, Hastert resigned from the Dickstein Shapiro lobbying firm in Washington, where he worked, and from the boards of exchange operator CME Group Inc and REX American Resources.

His alma mater, Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, removed his name from its policy center.

Hastert lives on a rural property in Plano, Illinois, near Yorkville.

He also owns a farm in Wisconsin and other Midwestern properties.

According to the indictment, Hastert withdrew $1.7 million in cash from his bank accounts from 2010 to 2014.

He is charged with 'structuring' $952,000 of those withdrawals, taking the funds out in increments of under $10,000 to evade the requirement that banks report large cash transactions.

Hastert then told the FBI that he was keeping the cash for himself, which the indictment said was a false statement.

The person receiving the payments has yet to come forward or be identified.

But another possible victim has emerged. The sister of a student at Yorkville High School told ABC News in June that Hastert had sexually abused her brother, who is now deceased.

In this October 1975 photo (left), Yorkville wrestling coach and former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, top right, and Steve Reinboldt are seen in a yearbook picture

Steve Reinboldt pictured in his Yorkville High School yearbook. The student equipment manager, who also had a long list of other school activities, was alleged;y abused by teacher and wrestling coach Dennis Hastert

A message written by Dennis Hastert in Steve Reinboldt's 1970 high school year book where he refers to the student as 'a great, right hand man'

Steve Reinboldt was the student equipment manager when Hastert worked at Yorkville High school in Illinois from 1965 to 1981.

He was abused for years by Hastert, his sister Jolene Burdge told ABC in June, who referred to her brother as his 'great, right hand man' in a 1970 high school yearbook.

She said Hastert, who was in his late twenties at the time, had been a father figure to him but also believed that relationship had caused irreparable harm.

She said: 'He [Hastert] damaged Steve I think more than any of us will ever know.'

Jolene, who lives in Montana, said that her brother was part of a group of boys who took foreign trips with Hastert, including to a diving expedition to the Bahamas.

As equipment coach for the wrestling team, taking care of washing uniforms, Steve Reinboldt spent a lot of time alone with the coach, his sister said.

Steve revealed to her what his former coach had allegedly done to him, when he came out as gay in 1979, eight years after graduating from high school.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s lawyers are in discussions with federal prosecutors to end the criminal case against him prior to trial, indicating a possible plea deal, attorneys said Monday in federal court

The younger sister asked her brother about his first same-sex experience, to which he replied: 'It was with Dennis Hastert.'

Jolene asked her brother why he had never told anyone about his alleged ordeal, which he told her went on throughout high school.

She said: 'He [Steve] looked at me and said, ''who was ever going to believe me?'''

Jolene said that her brother told her 'the basics' and never went into details about the alleged abuse.

'He never had a life,' she said. 'He spent his life trying to run away from it and trying to dull the pain.'

A friend and former classmate of Reinboldt's said Reinboldt told him in 1974, during college, that he'd had a sexual relationship with Hastert in high school.

That friend spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity so as not to betray a personal confidence.

Steve Reinboldt died of AIDS in 1995 at the age of 42. His sister said that Hastert turned up at his funeral and she confronted him.

Hastert, who has been married to wife Jean since 1973, has two adult sons and grandchildren, had moved on from his teaching days into politics.

He went on to represent Illinois for 20 years and served as House Speaker from 1999 to 2007.