Missouri
Former House speaker sentenced to prison for COVID relief fraud
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.
Wisconsin
Federal judges decline to extend appointment for interim U.S. attorney in Milwaukee
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal judges in Milwaukee announced Tuesday that have decided not to extend interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel’s appointment beyond next week.
Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Schimel in November to a 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which is headquartered in Milwaukee and covers the eastern third of the state. His term is set to expire March 17.
Under federal law, a federal district’s judges can extend an interim U.S. attorney’s appointment until a permanent appointee takes the position. But the Eastern District’s judges said a majority of them have declined to extend Schimel’s term and will wait for President Donald Trump and the U.S. Senate to nominate and confirm a full-time U.S. attorney.
“In doing so, the Court intends no criticism or commentary on the performance or qualifications of the Interim United States Attorney or any of the attorneys in the United States Attorney’s Office,” the judges said in a statement posted on the Eastern District’s website. “To the credit of that office, from the Court’s perspective, it has continued to represent the citizens of this district well.”
Schimel declined to comment when reached by phone by The Associated Press.
Schimel, a Republican, holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He served as the Waukesha County district attorney before winning election as Wisconsin attorney general in 2014. He lost a bid for a second term to Democrat Josh Kaul in 2018. He landed on his feet after that defeat, though, after outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed him as a judge in Waukesha County.
He also ran for the state Supreme Court last spring with the court’s ideological balance at stake. But despite Trump’s endorsement and million in spending from billionaire Elon Musk, Schimel lost the race to liberal Susan Crawford.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, said earlier this month that she opposed allowing Schimel to continue to serve as interim U.S. attorney, calling Schimel a partisan actor and saying “getting the right person who will uphold the rule of law rather than pledge loyalty to the President, is more important than ever.”
Within weeks of being named interim U.S. attorney in November, Schimel found himself overseeing the prosecution of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was charged in April with helping an immigrant evade federal immigration officers who were trying to arrest him at the Milwaukee County courthouse.
The case inflamed tensions over Trump’s immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.
Schimel’s team ultimately persuaded a jury to find Dugan guilty of obstruction in December. She faces up to five years in prison, although her sentencing has not been scheduled as her attorneys push for a new trial.
Massachusetts
Prosecutors to drop charge against Patriots’ Christian Barmore
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts prosecutors said Monday that they will drop a domestic assault and battery charge against New England Patriots defensive lineman Christian J. Barmore because they do not believe they can prove their case.
Barmore, 26, appeared in Attleboro District Court with his legal team but did not speak in the courtroom and did not answer reporters’ questions.
A criminal complaint had said Barmore briefly took his girlfriend’s phone, threw her to the floor and grabbed her by the shirt last year during an Aug. 8 argument at his home in Mansfield outside Boston. The woman told Mansfield police she reported the incident on Aug. 25, nearly three weeks after it occurred. She provided officers with a photo showing bruising she said happened when she was thrown to the floor, according to the complaint.
However, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III told reporters that the woman who made the complaint did not want to travel out of state for the case. He also pointed out that Barmore wasn’t arrested when the complaint was initially made, which he said was significant.
Barmore’s lawyer, David Meier, has denied that any crime occurred.
“The evidence will demonstrate that no criminal conduct took place,” Meier said in a previous statement, calling the matter a personal dispute he expects will be resolved.
Former House speaker sentenced to prison for COVID relief fraud
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.
Wisconsin
Federal judges decline to extend appointment for interim U.S. attorney in Milwaukee
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal judges in Milwaukee announced Tuesday that have decided not to extend interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel’s appointment beyond next week.
Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Schimel in November to a 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which is headquartered in Milwaukee and covers the eastern third of the state. His term is set to expire March 17.
Under federal law, a federal district’s judges can extend an interim U.S. attorney’s appointment until a permanent appointee takes the position. But the Eastern District’s judges said a majority of them have declined to extend Schimel’s term and will wait for President Donald Trump and the U.S. Senate to nominate and confirm a full-time U.S. attorney.
“In doing so, the Court intends no criticism or commentary on the performance or qualifications of the Interim United States Attorney or any of the attorneys in the United States Attorney’s Office,” the judges said in a statement posted on the Eastern District’s website. “To the credit of that office, from the Court’s perspective, it has continued to represent the citizens of this district well.”
Schimel declined to comment when reached by phone by The Associated Press.
Schimel, a Republican, holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He served as the Waukesha County district attorney before winning election as Wisconsin attorney general in 2014. He lost a bid for a second term to Democrat Josh Kaul in 2018. He landed on his feet after that defeat, though, after outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed him as a judge in Waukesha County.
He also ran for the state Supreme Court last spring with the court’s ideological balance at stake. But despite Trump’s endorsement and million in spending from billionaire Elon Musk, Schimel lost the race to liberal Susan Crawford.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, said earlier this month that she opposed allowing Schimel to continue to serve as interim U.S. attorney, calling Schimel a partisan actor and saying “getting the right person who will uphold the rule of law rather than pledge loyalty to the President, is more important than ever.”
Within weeks of being named interim U.S. attorney in November, Schimel found himself overseeing the prosecution of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was charged in April with helping an immigrant evade federal immigration officers who were trying to arrest him at the Milwaukee County courthouse.
The case inflamed tensions over Trump’s immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.
Schimel’s team ultimately persuaded a jury to find Dugan guilty of obstruction in December. She faces up to five years in prison, although her sentencing has not been scheduled as her attorneys push for a new trial.
Massachusetts
Prosecutors to drop charge against Patriots’ Christian Barmore
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts prosecutors said Monday that they will drop a domestic assault and battery charge against New England Patriots defensive lineman Christian J. Barmore because they do not believe they can prove their case.
Barmore, 26, appeared in Attleboro District Court with his legal team but did not speak in the courtroom and did not answer reporters’ questions.
A criminal complaint had said Barmore briefly took his girlfriend’s phone, threw her to the floor and grabbed her by the shirt last year during an Aug. 8 argument at his home in Mansfield outside Boston. The woman told Mansfield police she reported the incident on Aug. 25, nearly three weeks after it occurred. She provided officers with a photo showing bruising she said happened when she was thrown to the floor, according to the complaint.
However, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III told reporters that the woman who made the complaint did not want to travel out of state for the case. He also pointed out that Barmore wasn’t arrested when the complaint was initially made, which he said was significant.
Barmore’s lawyer, David Meier, has denied that any crime occurred.
“The evidence will demonstrate that no criminal conduct took place,” Meier said in a previous statement, calling the matter a personal dispute he expects will be resolved.
