Former US House speaker Dennis Hastert allegedly paid hush money to hide sexual misconduct

A former US House Speaker who has been indicted by a federal grand jury allegedly paid off an individual to hide past sexual misconduct, the Los Angeles Times said.

Dennis Hastert, 73, was indicted on Thursday on charges that he violated banking laws to pay US$3.5 million to an unnamed person to cover up "past misconduct," according to media reports.

The LA Times, citing two unidentified federal law enforcement officials, reported on Friday that the alleged misconduct was of a sexual nature and did not relate to his public office.

Thursday's federal indictment described the victim, "Individual A", as a man, the newspaper reported, saying the alleged misconduct dated from Hastert's time as a high school wrestling coach and teacher.

"It goes back a long way, back to then. It has nothing to do with public corruption or a corruption scandal. Or to his time in office," an official, who would not speak publicly about the federal charges filed in Chicago, told the Times.

Another federal law enforcement official told the newspaper that investigators had spoken to a second man who made allegations corroborating what the former student said.