Sunday, June 07, 2015

More On Dennis Hastert Sex Abuse Scandal

The New York Times has an interesting story discussing more of the financial side of Dennis Hastert's post-Speaker career as a lobbyist. The story suggests that when Hastert first left the House, his career as a lobbyist started off rather slowly. It wasn't until the ex-Speaker began making the first installments of a $3.5 million agreement Hastert reached with an alleged victim of sexual abuse that Hastert accelerated his lobbying activities to generate higher income.

The work with Saudis and other overseas interests discussed in the story raise many concerns, but there was one aspect of the story that really caught my eye. J. David John is a former business associate who has tried unsuccessfully to bring whistle blower claims against Hastert, whom he claims misused government funds provided for his office as an ex-Speaker for personal business matters. According to John, Hastert had inquired about obtaining information from a financial adviser on annuity plans with large annual payouts shortly after he agreed to make $3.5 million in pay-offs to an alleged sexual abuse victim in exchange for his silence.
After a relatively slow start to his career as a consultant and lobbyist, J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, became very busy in 2010. He was traveling to spots including Singapore and Montreal, meeting with clients about ventures as varied as futures trading and Formula One racing.
He also made an unusual request to one of his business associates: to find a financial adviser who could come up with a plan for an annuity that would generate a substantial cash payout each year. According to the associate, J. David John, the former speaker also asked that the adviser not be told of Mr. Hastert’s involvement.
The request came just a few weeks before Mr. Hastert, according to charges in a federal indictment, made his first payment to a man known as “Individual A” in what was to be a total of $3.5 million. The money, two people briefed on an F.B.I. investigation of Mr. Hastert said, was paid to prevent the man from publicly saying Mr. Hastert sexually abused him decades ago, when Mr. Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Ill.
“I did not think much about it at the time, but looking back at it, it does seem strange,” Mr. John said. “He just said he needed to generate some cash.” . . .
The potential use of an annuity to make the hush payments is of particular interest to me since that is the method former Democratic mayoral candidate Larry Vaughn claimed a government whistle blower told him was being utilized to offer bribes to ten members of the Indianapolis City-County Council in exchange for their support of Mayor Greg Ballard's proposed criminal justice center project. Vaughn claims an FBI agent reached out to him for more information on the allegation after he made the bombshell claim at a meeting of the full council earlier this year.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting connection about annuity payouts when it comes to Hastert and some of the most corrupt Indianapolis City Council Councilors money can buy. Makes sense and instills increased intrigue as to more details about the reasons the FBI is snooping the CCC hallways. The lawless and utterly corrupt Greg Ballard has every right to be highly concerned; plainly put, Greg Ballard should be in a federal prison in chains for the rest of his miserable life. Whistleblowers in the past- when proclaiming the truth- have often been mocked and made to look crazy- only to be proved later they were right on track. Think Ross Perot who tried fruitlessly to alert us to Democrat Bill Clinton's NAFTA ("a giant sucking sound" as American businesses are moved overseas to the point there is virtually no American production of anything), the derision Wayne Madsen took when revealing the awful truth about Dennis Hastert, and our own Larry Vaughn. But those refusing to admit the truth, or even consider it, will never do much to repair the damaged reputations their mockery and harsh words created.

Not much of a religious person here but I pray all the time the FBI will do what Joe Hogsett refused to do; Joe Hogestt refused to preserve the Indianapolis public safety when he refused to bring charges against the corruption endemic to Indianapolis Democrat and Republican poliicos and especially the overt corruption of the rotund faux-Republican Greg Ballard. The corruption both parties bring to this City harm every citizen from their pocketbooks to the degradation of an honest atmosphere in which to live and rear children.

The nefarious and low-road Greg Ballard should be afraid, very afraid.

Anonymous said...

Look at all of the Obama actuations, all have been dismissed by the Media.