FORMER SPEAKER HASTERT RELEASED FROM PRISON

Former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert has been released from a federal prison 13 months after he began serving a sentence for a bank fraud conviction linked to his effort to buy the silence of a former student he sexually abused during his days as a high school wrestling coach.

Hastert, 75, pleaded guilty to illegal structuring of bank withdrawals as part of an effort to circumvent federal banking laws as he went about paying off someone identified in court as “Individual A” for abuse that occurred more than 30 years ago during his years as a teacher and coach in Yorkville, Ill.