A former speaker of the Missouri state House of Representatives was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud for misappropriating federal Covid-19 relief funds for his personal benefit, including payments for dues on his country club and three cars.
John Diehl, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, received about $380,000 in federal loans for his law firm between 2020 and 2022 through a program intended to help cover operating expenses for businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
But Diehl admitted in a plea deal in September that he instead used the money for personal expenses such as country club dues, pool maintenance, the mortgage on his home and vehicle payments on a Tesla, Audi and Jeep. Prosecutors said he used more than half of the money to fund his law firm’s defined benefit plan, of which he was the sole participant, and also paid a civil settlement related to his time as speaker of the state House.
Diehl resigned as House speaker in 2015 after the Kansas City Star reported that he had exchanged sexually suggestive text messages with a college student working as an intern at the Capitol. At the time, Diehl acknowledged having “made a serious error in judgment when texting.”
In 2023, the Missouri ethics commission fined Diehl approximately $47,000 for campaign finance violations, including allegations that he used nearly $6,800 of campaign funds to pay personal expenses.
Diehl had asked the federal court to pardon him from prison, noting that he had already returned all pandemic relief funds to the Small Business Administration (SBA).
The US prosecutor’s office had recommended a prison sentence of 21 to 27 months. In addition to the prison sentence, the court on Monday ordered Diehl to pay a $50,000 fine.
“Through his education and public office, the defendant had every privilege and opportunity and, to put it bluntly, knew better than to participate in the accused fraud scheme,” Hal Goldsmith, an assistant U.S. attorney, said of Diehl in a court filing.
