body: Under U.S. federal law, [blackmail is a crime](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/873). We know that former US Congress member [Dennis Hastert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hastert) was [being blackmailed by someone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hastert#Civil_lawsuit_by_.22Individual_A.22_against_Hastert), and we also know he commited the crime he was being blackmailed for. That person is actually suing Hastert for full payment of the blackmail money. How can this be legal? 
  
  
  While what happened to the victim is horrible, blackmail itself is horrible, and shouldn't be tolerated in a free society. Why hasn't this been investigated?
  
  
  
title: Why hasn't Hastert's blackmailer been charged with a crime?