If Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) thought blaming an accountant’s “error” for her congressional financial disclosures showing her wealth ballooned some 3,500 percent year over year to make her a multimillionaire would make the scrutiny go away, she was mistaken.
Over the weekend, reports emerged that Omar’s husband, former political consultant Tim Mynett, abruptly shuttered his California winery after congressional investigators began asking questions about the business.
Shut It Down
As reported on Monday’s AM Update, Mynett pulled the plug on a wine business he co-owned just weeks after the House Oversight Committee sent a letter requesting financial information related to the company, eStCru, and venture capital firm Rose Lake Capital. Both are now at the center of mounting questions connected to the congresswoman’s financial disclosures.
Last year, Rep. Omar filed 2024 financial disclosure forms showing she and her husband accumulated a net worth of up to $30 million. That marked a staggering 3,500% increase over the previous year. Forms reviewed by The Washington Free Beacon found the winery was said to be valued somewhere between $1 million and $5 million.
In February, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) sent a letter to Mynett requesting all documents and communications relating to the finances of his two companies. “Given that these companies do not publicly list their investors or where their money comes from, this sudden jump in value raises concerns that unknown individuals may be investing to gain influence with your wife,” the letter read, in part.
When Mynett did not comply with the request, the Oversight Committee referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee. The Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC), which is the House office tasked with performing the initial review of allegations of misconduct, then sent a letter to Congresswoman Omar.
That is when Omar amended her 2024 financial disclosure, this time including liabilities tied to the two companies that effectively reduced their value to zero, according to The Wall Street Journal. Aides to the congresswoman cited accounting “errors” and her lack of familiarity with her husband’s business dealings as justification for the confusion.
After Comer’s letter was send in February, a representative for the winery told The New York Post the company was no longer operational. According to the California Secretary of State’s business registry, eStCru was officially terminated on April 4 – two months after the first notice of a probe.
Bigger Problems?
Scrutiny surrounding Mynett’s businesses come as a wider fraud scandal grips Minnesota’s Somali community of which Omar is a part. President Donald Trump and some Republicans have raised questions about whether the congresswoman’s apparently growing wealth is connected to that controversy. She denies any wrongdoing.
This incident is not the first time Mynett’s wine business faced controversy. Founded in 2021, the company hit with fraud allegations in 2023 from an investor who claimed he was misled into putting up $300,000 on promises of a 200 percent return that never materialized. Court filings at the time indicated the winery had just $650 in its bank account. The lawsuit was ultimately settled in 2024 with no criminal charges filed.
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