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Former U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has conducted private business ventures through a little-known government office that has cost taxpayers about $1.8 million, a Tribune investigation has found.
Former House speakers are allowed to maintain a government-financed office for up to five years to wrap up matters relating to their tenure. They are not permitted to use the office for financial gain.
But the Tribune found that a secretary in the ex-speaker’s government office used email to coordinate some of his private business meetings and travel, and conducted research on one proposed venture. A suburban Chicago businessman who was involved in the business ventures with Hastert said he met with Hastert at least three times in the government office to discuss the projects.
Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said he did not misuse the office. “I didn’t work on any private business out of there,” he said.
Court records, interviews and dozens of emails link the Office of the Former Speaker to J. David John, a Burr Ridge businessman who made six of the emails public in a lawsuit in DuPage County. John alleges in his suit that Wheaton College officials and others ruined his business relationship with Hastert, who is not a defendant in the suit.
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