The House Oversight Committee has opened a sweeping inquiry into Rep.
Ilhan Omars sudden family windfall and her husbands opaque business empire, amid a massive $9 billion Somali social services fraud scandal that has rocked her Minnesota district.
According to the New York Post, Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) has already directed staff attorneys to examine the extraordinary step of subpoenaing Omars husband, political operative-turned-investor Tim Mynett, over what Republicans describe as highly suspicious financial dealings.
Comer, who has emerged as one of the House GOPs most aggressive watchdogs on ethics and corruption, made clear that Congress will not simply accept vague explanations or stonewalling from the Minnesota Democrat or her spouse.
Were going to get answers, whether its through the Ethics Committee or the Oversight Committee, one of the two, he told The Post.
At the center of the controversy is a dramatic and rapid rise in the couples reported net worth, which has triggered alarm bells among Republicans and financial experts alike.
Somali-born Omar (D-Minn.) and Mynett, who for years operated on the margins of Democratic politics, are now claiming a family fortune of up to $30 million, according to her 2024 financial disclosure forms, despite being nearly broke just a year earlier.
Comer, who has a background in finance, has openly questioned whether such a meteoric accumulation of wealth is even remotely plausible under normal market conditions.
There are a lot of questions as to how her husband accumulated so much wealth over the past two years, Comer said. Its not possible. Its not. Im a money guy. Its not possible.
The congressional probe is unfolding alongside a separate federal law enforcement investigation into potential political ties to the sprawling Somali fraud scheme in Minnesota.
We are investigating all politicians potentially connected to any of this [fraud] in Minnesota. You can read between the lines, said a law enforcement source, underscoring that Omars political orbit is now squarely under scrutiny.
That same source drew a sharp contrast between the Biden administrations apparent inaction and the more aggressive posture of President Donald Trumps team toward the scandal.
Unlike the Biden administration, which took no apparent action, Team Trump is on top of it, the source said.
The Post has learned that the FBI was briefed during the Biden years on concerns surrounding a constellation of companies tied to Mynett, yet no visible enforcement steps followed.
Those entities include Rose Lake Capital, an investment firm formed in 2022 by Mynett and his business partner, longtime Democratic operative Will Hailer, which now sits at the center of the unfolding controversy.
Rose Lake Capital is one of several interlocking ventures associated with Omars husband, forming what critics describe as a murky web of shell-like entities with little public track record. Court documents from a lawsuit in South Dakota reveal that as recently as late 2022, Rose Lake Capital had just $42.44 in its bank account, a figure that stands in stark contrast to the wealth now reported.
Yet, according to Omars 2024 filing, the firms value allegedly rocketed from essentially nothing to as much as $25 million in a single year. Associates and observers were so perplexed by the apparent irregularities and the mystery surrounding the source of the money that, in 2024, they brought their concerns to federal investigators, sources said.
Those associates questioned whether the businesses including a winery venture might be engaged in improper or undisclosed activities, given that none of the entities had any visible history of performance or public investor base. The lack of transparency, coupled with the timing of the Somali fraud scandal in Omars district, has only deepened suspicions among investigators and lawmakers.
Adding to the unease, several prominent figures who were once listed as advisors to Rose Lake have quietly disappeared from the firms bright pink website. Among them is former Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), a onetime chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and former U.S. Ambassador to China under Barack Obama, whose name was used to bolster the firms credibility.
Baucus told The Post that his involvement with Rose Lake was minimal and fleeting, limited to a single phone call in 2022 with Hailer about a proposed storage-unit project.
Then nothing came of it beyond occasional emails from Hailer. That went on for about four or five months or so, then just radio silence, he told The Post.
Over time, Baucus said, even those promotional emails about supposed investment successes abruptly stopped, leaving him uneasy about what was really going on.
He stopped writing his emails about the investment about how well hes doing, all that stuff. You can read between the lines it sounded a little bit fishy, he said, adding that no one ever asked his permission to list him as an advisor on the companys website.
Also previously listed as advisors were former Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who once chaired the House Agriculture Committee, and J. Peter Pham, a respected Atlantic Council fellow who served as President Trumps Special Envoy to Africas Great Lakes Regions.
Pham, who emphasized that he had no role in the couples sudden enrichment, said he had only a single meeting about a potential solar panel project in South Africa and later discovered he was being described as an advisor by the company.
Obviously Ive seen reporting, including in The Post, about Wills partner who Ive never met and his wife [Omar] Tim and his wifes sudden coming into riches. But [I] cant say anything about that, other than certainly I had no share in that, said Pham, distancing himself from the firms activities and financial claims.
Peterson, by contrast, did not respond to requests for comment, leaving unanswered questions about how his name came to be associated with Rose Lake and why it was later removed.
On its website, Rose Lake boasts that its officers have previous experience managing a staggering $60 billion in assets, a claim that would ordinarily place the firm among serious players in global finance. Yet multiple Wall Street insiders told The Post they had never heard of Rose Lake, nor of any institutional or high-net-worth investors who had entrusted money to the firm, despite its grandiose assertions.
The firms online materials further claim that it has been involved in billions of dollars in assets under management and has engaged in sophisticated financial operations such as deals, mergers and acquisitions, debt restructuring and capital raising.
Another Wall Street source expressed outright shock that Mynett known primarily as a Minnesota political consultant and campaign operative was suddenly presenting himself as the head of a high-end financial firm.
Compounding the concerns, Rose Lake is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the primary federal regulator overseeing investment advisers and asset managers.
The firm also does not disclose how much it currently manages, a notable omission given its sweeping claims about past experience and capabilities.
Under the Dodd-Frank reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, investment advisers overseeing $100 million or more in assets or $150 million for private fund advisers are generally required to register with the SEC, subject to certain exceptions.
So-called family offices can avoid registration if they manage only the wealth of a single family and do not solicit outside investors, and venture capital firms also enjoy exemptions, a category Rose Lake cites as one of its specialties.
Still, a former high-ranking SEC official told The Post that Rose Lakes own public boasts raise serious questions about whether it should be under federal oversight. Rose Lakes claim that it engages in private equity work and that its officers previously managed billions in assets would suggest the fund would be required to register, the former official said, adding pointedly, I would continue to push on the disclosure issue because this looks funny.
Financial experts have also flagged the proliferation of similarly named Rose Lake entities as a classic red flag in the world of compliance and fraud detection. They note that the company appears to have been scrubbing its website including removing lists of officers and advisors in the wake of the multi-billion-dollar Somali fraud scheme that has engulfed Omars district, especially after a front-page expos from The Post.
In recent days, Rose Lake has deactivated its LinkedIn page entirely, erasing a key public-facing profile that once touted its leadership and activities. Hailers name has been removed from the firms online presence, and his own LinkedIn profile no longer lists Rose Lake among his current roles.
Instead, Hailer now highlights his role as co-owner of the eStCru winery, a venture he launched with Mynett in 2020, which itself has drawn scrutiny given the couples rapid financial ascent.
Before moving into these business ventures, Hailer served as political director for then-Democratic National Committee chair Keith Ellison, who now holds the powerful post of Minnesota attorney general, underscoring the deeply political roots of the partnership.
For Republicans, the widening investigations into Omars financial world and the Somali fraud scandal are not only justified but long overdue.
The House Majority Whip, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), told The Post that the scale of the alleged fraud and the timing of Omars newfound wealth demand aggressive oversight and accountability.
While Minnesotans have been getting fleeced to the tune of $9 billion by Somali fraudsters, Ilhan Omar and her husband have been raking in millions through their shady businesses, he said, capturing the anger of many taxpayers who see a double standard for politically connected Democrats.
The explosion of wealth, plus the fact that convicted fraudsters helped fund Omars campaign, is worth an investigation by the Ethics Committee at the very least.
An SEC spokesman declined to comment when asked about Rose Lake and any potential filings or regulatory inquiries involving the firm.
The Post has contacted Mynett, Hailer, and Rep. Omars office seeking comment, but as of now, the couple has offered no public explanation for how they vaulted from near insolvency to multimillionaire status in such a short span.
For conservatives, the case encapsulates a broader concern about the modern Democratic Partys entanglement with opaque nonprofits, foreign-linked networks, and politically connected consulting firms that seem to flourish in the shadows of big government.
As the House Oversight Committee and federal investigators press forward, the unanswered questions surrounding Omars finances, her husbands mysterious investment vehicles, and the massive fraud in her own district will continue to fuel demands for transparency, enforcement, and equal treatment under the law.
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