The sentence caps a years-long federal case against a former state lawmaker whose career in public office ended in 2015 and who has since accumulated multiple findings of legal and ethical misconduct. In addition to the 21-month term, the court ordered Diehl to pay a $50,000 fine.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A federal court sentenced former Missouri Republican House Speaker John Diehl to 21 months in prison Monday after he admitted using federal COVID-19 relief loans to pay for personal expenses, including country club dues, swimming pool maintenance, and vehicle costs on a Tesla, an Audi, and a Jeep.
The court also ordered Diehl to pay a $50,000 fine. The sentencing followed his guilty plea to wire fraud charges under a September plea agreement.
“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 in a court filing.
How the money was spent
Diehl received approximately $380,000 in Small Business Administration loans for his law firm between 2020 and 2022 through federal programs designed to help businesses cover operating expenses during the coronavirus pandemic. Prosecutors said he used more than half the money to fund his law firm’s defined benefit plan, of which he was the sole participant. He also used pandemic funds to pay off a civil settlement tied to his time as House speaker.
Diehl’s bid for leniency
Diehl had asked the court to spare him from prison, noting that he had already repaid all pandemic relief funds to the Small Business Administration. The U.S. attorney’s office had recommended a sentence of 21 to 27 months.
A record of misconduct
The federal wire fraud conviction marks the latest legal finding against a politician whose career in the Missouri House ended more than a decade ago. 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 in campaign funds for personal expenses.