Former Missouri House speaker sentenced to prison for COVID relief fraud

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., (AP) — A former Missouri House speaker was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud for misusing federal COVID-19 relief funds for his personal benefit.

Former Republican House Speaker John Diehl 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 September plea agreement that he instead used the money for personal expenses, including country club dues, swimming pool maintenance, his home mortgage and vehicle payments for a Tesla, Audi and Jeep. Prosecutors said he used more than half the money to fund his law firm’s defined benefit plan, of which he was the only participant, and also paid off a civil settlement related to his time as state House speaker.

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 serving as a Capitol intern. At the time, Diehl acknowledged “making a serious error in judgment by sending the text messages.”

In 2023, the Missouri Ethics Commission imposed a roughly $47,000 fine on Diehl for campaign finance violations, including allegations that he used nearly $6,800 of campaign funds to pay for personal expenses.

Diehl had asked the federal court to spare him from prison, noting that he had already paid back all the pandemic relief funds to the Small Business Administration.

The U.S. attorney’s office had recommended a prison sentence of 21 to 27 months. In addition to prison time, the court on Monday ordered Diehl to pay a $50,000 fine.

“Through his education and public office, Defendant had every privilege and opportunity, and to put it bluntly, he knew better than to engage in the charged fraud scheme,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said of Diehl in a court filing.