Former Missouri House Speaker John Diehl pleaded guilty today to defrauding the government out of $379,000 in federal pandemic relief funds, money that Diehl used on country club dues, car payments, and other personal experiences.
In court, prosecutor Hal Goldsmith said the conduct began in March of 2020 and lasted until February 2024. Diehl, who appeared in court wearing a blue sport coat, black pants, and a patterned tie, said he first became aware of the case against him nine or ten months ago, when he hired attorney John Rogers.
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Diehl carried out the fraud through his law firm, the St. Louis-based Diehl Law Group, taking out pandemic relief loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration intended for “working capital” to keep his law firm afloat during the pandemic. The first sum of money Diehl spent on country club dues, and the misuses of government money only continued from there.
Goldsmith outlined a pattern of money intended for pandemic relief instead used for payments on an Audi, Tesla, and Jeep; on more country club dues; on pool maintenance and his home mortgage; and a family member’s college tuition.
Rogers said that Diehl has already paid back the fraudulent gains. (Goldsmith declined comment after the hearing, citing the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.)
In court today, Diehl waived being indicted and instead pleaded guilty to the single charge of wire fraud. He could face up to 20 years, a $250,000 fine, or both—though given his lack of criminal history, his sentence will almost certainly be much lower. He was released today on his own recognizance. “Mr. Diehl, probably not the best day of your life,” said Judge Stephen R. Welby, who oversaw the bond hearing today.
Diehl is scheduled to be sentenced December 19.
Said one St. Louis area politico: “Dude had plenty of money. Not sure why he’d steal from something that had that amount of oversight when he literally owns cobalt mines.”
That is a reference to Diehl’s involvement in the budding Missouri cobalt mining industry. Cobalt is a rare earth mineral integral to lithium-ion batteries, which are integral to running everything from iPhones to electric vehicles like the one Diehl spent his pandemic relief money on.
As recently as 2018, Diehl was listed as the vice president and general counsel of Missouri Cobalt. Missouri Cobalt later changed its name to U.S. Strategic Metals. A Springfield News-Leader story lists him as still active with the company as recently as 2023.
Diehl was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2008, representing a district that included his home in Town & Country. His ascendance to speaker of the house in 2015 was cut short soon thereafter, when he resigned barely a day after an explosive Kansas City Star report exposing the existence of salacious text messages between Diehl and a college-age intern. The texts implied the two were having a physical relationship as well.
About 90 minutes after Diehl’s bond hearing wrapped up on Thursday, a little after 2 p.m., Diehl briefly emerged from the federal courthouse. He began walking towards 10th Street, but only made it a few steps before doing a 180 and heading back inside—perhaps not coincidentally because of the assembled journalists trying to take his photo.
For the next two hours, a standoff of sorts ensued. Diehl posted up in the federal courthouse cafeteria while one by one reporters and photographers left the premises as their shifts ended or other duties called.
Diehl finally exited the Eagleton courthouse around 4:15 p.m. with his attorney. He did not respond to a reporter’s questions as to what his current role is in the Cobalt industry or why, given his presumably lucrative work in it, he committed pandemic relief fraud. Said Rogers: “We’re done. That’s good.”
