It’s the cover up
‘Serial Child Molester’ Dennis Hastert Gets 15 Months for Something That Shouldn’t Be Illegal. First of all, Hastert is a turd and I have no sympathy for him. But the man is going to jail for withdrawing his own money. Let that sink in.
May 2nd, 2016 at 7:26 pm
An excellent example of why non-discoverable assets are vital to a free society. If you think the state is onerous now, just wait until we have a “cashless society”.
May 2nd, 2016 at 7:26 pm
I am torn on this story. Obviously these structuring and other bank reporting laws are abominable and I don’t support prosecution under these “crimes” even for people I believe to be evil and deserving, like Hastert. On the other hand, he was one of the leading champion of this specific law. In principle I’m against this prosecution but if there is one and only one person I would break principle for on this point, Hastert is it.
May 2nd, 2016 at 7:42 pm
Money goes where it is wanted. Heed that.
May 2nd, 2016 at 8:36 pm
As Mark Steyn points out the REAL scandal is how did Hastert manage to amass that much money just by being a Congressman.
The only profession in the world where theft (by trading on insider information, sweetheart deals, and living off campaign contributions) is legal.
May 2nd, 2016 at 10:22 pm
@SD3,
That will never exist, not completely. People who want to remain relatively anonymous will take their traceable money and buy some kind of consumer good with some universally understood value (exactly what will be determined by the market–Coca-cola, Tide detergent, bottles of whiskey, candy bars, cigarettes, etc). Then they will use that item as money for the transactions they would rather keep off the record. When the authorities get wise, the word on the street will go out and something else will be substituted. Mark my words on this.
May 2nd, 2016 at 10:42 pm
22LR, same as cash, all day long.
May 2nd, 2016 at 10:49 pm
It’s actually more chickenshit than that. He’s going to prison because he talked to the FBI.
The FBI’s standard procedure is to
1) Find out that you did a crime or something embarrassing that might not be a crime. IE, they’ll find something that you would have a very strong reason to lie about or at least not be completely forthcoming about.
2) They’ll then approach you and ask you about the stuff they already know about (or think they know about from some informant) and wait for you to say something that is inconsistent with what they know. In Hastert’s case, they already knew about the accuser and the payments and were just waiting for him to give a less scandalous explanation of the withdrawals.
3) If you say anything other than “I want a lawyer” they will end up charging you with 18 USC 1001. This is how they got Martha Stewart- she didn’t commit any crimes, but when she talked to the FBI she got a few facts wrong so boom, prison time.
The moral of this story is to never ever ever talk to the FBI unless the USAG has given you an immunity offer beforehand. Basically, never talk to the FBI. If Hastert had kept his mouth shut, he might have even walked on the structuring charge.
May 3rd, 2016 at 4:57 am
@Publius, exactly my sentiments.
May 3rd, 2016 at 7:48 am
It’s because he’s a Republican while a Democrat is president. Last time we had a national figure under investigation for structuring, it was NY governor Eliot Spitzer (D). The Justice Department announced it wasn’t going to pursue charges against him the day after Barack Obama (D) was elected president.
May 3rd, 2016 at 10:24 am
“The moral of this story is to never ever ever talk to the FBI unless the USAG has given you an immunity offer beforehand. Basically, never talk to the FBI.”
Or, as a smarter man than I famously says:
Really, seriously, just shut the fuck up.
May 3rd, 2016 at 10:27 am
The Federal Government VIOLATES the 4th Amendment by forcing banks to report when you withdraw your OWN money. If you do it in violation of their unconstitutional laws, you can get nailed for “structuring” and go to jail. But never mind, they just want to keep you safe from “terrorists”. Oh by the way, in a panel on “gun violence” a couple of weeks ago, Hillary Clinton agreed that “gun owners are terrorists”. Think about that!!
May 3rd, 2016 at 10:55 am
So, nobody is all that concerned that the Republican Speaker of the House had an apparently well-known history of sexually abusing young males? Did that history of his not perhaps come into play when he was Speaker, doing all those unexpected and unnecessary deals with the Democrats that confused and upset the Republican base?
The man belongs under the damn jail, and any Repubs who knew that, before he got into office, he liked to sit in a lounge chair watching the school kids shower, should be taken out of office and beaten to within an inch of death, if only as an example to the others.
May 5th, 2016 at 9:42 am
He is a sack of shit, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Proving once again the state is for shit too.