Politics
JUST IN: Investigation Launched Into Ilhan Omar’s Surging Net Worth
While Minnesotans were being fleeced out of an estimated $9 billion in a sprawling Somali social services fraud scandal, Rep. Ilhan Omar and her husband were quietly amassing a fortune, House Republicans say.
The House Oversight Committee is now digging into Omar’s sudden surge in family wealth, with Chairman Rep. James Comer saying staff attorneys are weighing whether to subpoena her husband, Tim Mynett, over what he called questionable business dealings.
“We’re going to get answers, whether it’s through the Ethics Committee or the Oversight Committee, one of the two,” Comer told The Post.
Republicans want to know how Omar, a Somali-born Democrat from Minnesota, and Mynett went from nearly broke to potentially worth as much as $30 million in just a year, according to her 2024 financial disclosure.
“There are a lot of questions as to how her husband accumulated so much wealth over the past two years,” Comer said. “It’s not possible. It’s not. I’m a money guy. It’s not possible.”
Federal law enforcement is also taking a closer look. A law enforcement source said investigators are examining political figures potentially connected to the Minnesota fraud scheme.
“We are investigating all politicians potentially connected to any of this [fraud] in Minnesota. You can read between the lines,” the source said, adding that unlike during the Biden administration, “Team Trump is on top of it.”
The FBI was briefed during the Biden years on concerns surrounding companies linked to Mynett, The Post has learned.
At the center of the scrutiny is Rose Lake Capital, an investment firm Mynett co-founded with partner Will Hailer in 2022. Court filings from a lawsuit involving a related company show Rose Lake had just $42.44 in its bank account in late 2022.
By the following year, the firm’s value had ballooned from essentially zero to as much as $25 million, according to Omar’s disclosure.
Sources said associates were concerned enough about alleged irregularities and the source of the money that they flagged the matter to federal investigators in 2024.
Wall Street figures consulted by The Post described Rose Lake as a “red flag,” noting that the firm and related businesses, including a winery, lacked any meaningful public track record.
Several prominent names once listed as advisers to Rose Lake have since vanished from its website. Among them was former Sen. Max Baucus, the onetime Senate Finance Committee chairman and former U.S. ambassador to China.
Baucus said he had one phone call with Hailer in 2022 about a potential storage-unit deal and then exchanged emails for several months before hearing nothing further.
“He stopped writing his emails about the investment – about how well he’s doing, all that stuff. You can read between the lines – it sounded a little bit fishy,” Baucus said, adding that he was never asked for permission to be listed as an adviser.
Others previously tied to the firm included former Rep. Collin Peterson and J. Peter Pham, a former Donald Trump administration envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes region. Pham said he had one meeting about a possible solar project and had no involvement beyond that.
Rose Lake’s website claimed its officers had “previous” experience managing $60 billion in assets, a staggering figure that would normally draw industry attention. But Wall Street insiders told The Post they had never heard of the firm or of anyone investing with it.
Another source expressed disbelief that Mynett, a longtime Minnesota political consultant, had suddenly emerged as a financial executive.
The firm is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and does not disclose how much money it currently manages. While some firms can avoid registration under specific exemptions, a former senior SEC official said Rose Lake’s own claims suggest it should be subject to disclosure rules.
“I would continue to push on the disclosure issue because this looks funny,” the former official said.
Financial experts also pointed to the use of multiple, similar-sounding Rose Lake entities and the firm’s apparent scrubbing of officers and online profiles after The Post’s reporting as additional warning signs.
House Republicans say the timing is impossible to ignore.
“The explosion of wealth, plus the fact that convicted fraudsters helped fund Ilhan Omar’s campaign, is worth an investigation by the Ethics Committee at the very least,” said House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota.
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