Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has accused members of the media of lying about her net worth by misrepresenting congressional records. Omar, however, herself failed to follow congressional norms by not disclosing the value of her assets and potentially underrepresenting her husband’s investment positions.
Omar’s rapidly-acquired wealth has drawn renewed scrutiny amid reports about widespread fraud in the Somali community she helps represent in Congress. Her financial disclosure forms suggest she and her husband are worth at least $6 million and as much as $30 million, which has raised eyebrows because the couple said they were worth a maximum of $158,000 just two years ago.
Omar’s most recent financial disclosure shows that her husband has an ownership stake in a winery worth between $1 million and $5 million, as well as a stake in a venture capital firm valued between $5 million and $25 million. Media organizations have used this filing to produce reports claiming that Omar is worth up to $30 million, an assertion the congresswoman flatly denies.
A senior staffer from Omar’s office previously told the Washington Examiner that the values on her disclosure form reflected the full value of the businesses rather than the value of her husband’s individual shares in them. Omar has personally used this explanation to dismiss critics, calling her husband one of “several partners” in the two firms.
California business records, however, show that Timothy Mynett, Omar’s husband, is one of just two individuals named as a partner on the winery’s statement of organization. The other is its CEO, former top Democratic operative William Hailer.
While it’s possible the winery has added more partners or diluted Mynett’s stake since the winery was founded in 2020, it’s impossible to know for certain because Omar hasn’t disclosed how much her husband’s share of the seven-figure venture is currently worth.
But on paper, the winery business appears to have boomed, although not without some controversy. The value of the winery grew from up to $50,000 in 2023 to up to $5 million in Omar’s most recent financial disclosures. Along the way, an investor reportedly accused Mynett and Hailer of failing to pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars they’d promised would materialize from the growth of the winery.
And the value of Mynett’s venture capital firm, Rose Lake Capital, seems to have exploded even more dramatically in the past two years. Omar said the firm was worth between $1 and $1,000 in 2023; by the following year, it was worth millions of dollars.
Omar’s refusal to disclose the value of her husband’s stakes in the winery and venture capital firm breaks with congressional norms.
A Washington Examiner review of congressional financial disclosures shows that a number of Omar’s colleagues in the House also have partial interests in privately held companies, either directly or through their spouses, and disclose the value of their stakes specifically rather than the ventures as a whole.
Even Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), who is embroiled in several ethics scandals, managed to report the seven-figure value of his 49% stake in the security firm Pacem Solutions International. Reps. April McClain Delaney (D-MD), Bradley Schneider (D-IL), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), and Sara Jacobs (D-CA) all have partial stakes in private equity firms, hedge funds, and real estate ventures for which they provide specific valuation ranges.
Rose Lake Capital, the venture capital firm where Omar’s husband is a partner, is also run by Hailer, signaling a close business relationship between the congresswoman’s spouse and the wealthy former political operative.
By not reporting the value of Mynett’s stakes, Omar is effectively hiding the extent of her wealth from the public.
Although Omar has not disclosed her net worth, the congresswoman has denied allegations that she became wealthy while in Congress, pointing out her student loan debt and noting that her husband’s winery generated relatively little income in 2024.
POLITICALLY CONNECTED SOMALI NONPROFIT GROUP PULLED IN TAXPAYER DOLLARS AFTER MISHANDLING MILLIONS
Omar has faced renewed scrutiny in the press amid reports of Minnesota’s Somali community running a variety of fraud schemes in the state. Conservative critics have pointed out that the value of one of her husband’s companies grew from under $1,000 in 2023 to over $5 million in 2024 amid widespread fraud in Minnesota. There is, however, no evidence that Omar profited from fraud or was involved in it in any way.
The congresswoman, however, has stated that she does not regret sponsoring the MEALS Act of 2020, which was linked to the “Feeding Our Future” fraud scheme in Minnesota, where members of the state’s Somali community defrauded the public for tens of millions of dollars. Some individuals implicated in the scheme made campaign contributions to Omar, who later gave the money to a variety of local nonprofit organizations “out of an abundance of caution.”
Omar’s office did not return a request for comment.