Former US House Speaker Hastert indicted on federal charges

Shortly afterward, Hastert began making cash payments to the individual, according to the indictment. He withdrew $1.7 million in cash from various domestic bank accounts from 2010 to 2014 and gave it to the person, the indictment said.

Hastert made 15 withdrawals of $50,000 each from June 2010 until April 2012 when bank representatives, who are required to report cash transactions in excess of $10,000, asked him about the withdrawals, the indictment said.

In July 2012, Hastert began to make cash withdrawals in increments under $10,000 each, at least 106 totaling $952,000, the indictment said.

The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service began investigating the withdrawals in 2013 and the indictment alleges Hastert lied to FBI agents when they interviewed him in December of last year.

The indictment said agents asked Hastert to confirm, as he had previously indicated, that he was withdrawing the cash to store it because he did not feel safe with the banking system, and he said: "Yeah ... I kept the cash. That's what I'm doing."

Hastert served as a congressman from suburban Chicago for more than 20 years before resigning from the House in November 2007, having lost the speaker's job when Democrats gained control of the House in the 2006 elections.

The case has been assigned to US District Court Judge Thomas Durkin.