Ilhan Omar’s Mysterious Company

Companies owned by Ilhan Omar and her husband, Timothy Mynett, are being investigated by the House Oversight Committee and the Department of Justice. Why?

Chet Nagle ——Bio and Archives--March 9, 2026

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Tim Mynett, a political consultant and Representative Ilhan Omar’s husband, founded eStCru LLC (a winery company) in 2020 and Rose Lake Capital LLC (website: roselakecap.com) in 2022. As we will see below, eStCru has gone dormant and Rose Lake Capital has caught the attention of the House Oversight Committee and the Department of Justice because of its skyrocketing valuation.

Let’s review Ilhan Omar’s marriages in the light of accusations that she married her brother for immigration purposes.

In 2002 she married Ahmed Hirsi. It was a religious ceremony and was not legally registered. They had two children, but the religious marriage ended in 2008.

Her second marriage was to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009 and was legally registered. They were divorced in 2017. Some critics say Elmi was her brother and she married him for immigration purposes. However, Ilhan Omar became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000, so the rumors are certainly unfounded regarding her citizenship status.

Elmi has been described as a British Somali citizen, so the allegations that he was her brother might be more relevant to him. However, as a British citizen he would have been able to enter the United States under an F-1 student visa which he likely did to attend North Dakota State University from 2010 to 2012. He also could have applied for permanent resident status via spousal petition. However, there is no confirmed evidence that shows he obtained a green card or U.S. citizenship through his marriage to Omar.

Omar then reconciled with Ahmed Hirsi (around 2011) and had a third child together. They were legally married in 2018 and divorced in 2019.

Her third husband, Tim Mynett, was a political consultant she worked with and married in 2020. At last report, they are still married.

With rumors of marrying brothers for immigration purposes debunked, let’s turn to findings that caught the eye of the House Oversight Committee – companies that Omar’s current husband founded.

The companies also caught the eye of President Trump who ordered the Department of Justice to make another investigation into the companies and finances of the Omar and Mynett couple. (The last DOJ probe was in 2024 during the Biden administration – stalled for lack of evidence, of course.)

The eStCru Winery Company

In early February, Steve Watson of Modernity.news published the findings of journalist Angela Rose who visited the principal address of the eStCru company in Santa Rosa, California. That address is 1160 Hopper Avenue, Apartment B, and is also the address of 40 other wineries.

In her report she said, “I visited the principal address of eStCru winery. This winery is co-owned by U.S. Representative for Minnesota’s 5th District, Ilhan Omar and her husband, Timothy Mynett, yet seems to allegedly be a shell business used to launder funds.”

Rose also described the sudden increase in revenue, “In 2024 they made about $15,000 and in 2025 it exploded to $5 million dollars… yet they weren’t producing any wine.” Public records show eStCru is tied to a foreign processing center and that there is no actual business license for eStCru.

Cellular Tracker, a website that provides information about wines currently lists eleven wines by eStCru but the “where to buy” links could not reveal any such products.

The company’s page has been removed from LinkedIn, its website appears to be blocked, and its Facebook and Instagram pages have not been upgraded since January 2023. Winemaker Erica Stancliff claims she stopped being paid in early 2023.

Investor Naeem Mohd filed a lawsuit alleging that Mynett and his business partner made fraudulent promises of a 200% return on a $300,000 investment. That case was reported settled in November last year, and Mohd recovered his $300,000 investment in the settlement.

One can only wonder how that money materialized.

Debra Heine posted on American Greatness on 28 January 2026 that, “Rose Lake Capital is an investment firm that was formed in 2022 by Mynett and his business partner, longtime Democrat operative Will Hailer. Court documents from a lawsuit involving a separate shady venture in South Dakota reveals that in 2022, Rose Lake Capital had just $42.44 in its bank account, a figure that stands in stark contrast to the wealth now reported.”

That “shady venture” lawsuit was based on Hailer’s promise to Ned Horsted, founder of a South Dakota cannabis farm, that he would bring in an additional $7.5 million in investment funds for the cannabis grower if they gave him the $3.54 million investment they raised from friends, family and acquaintances. Hailer’s promise never materialized, and Horsted sued three companies that Hailer owned at that time: eST Ventures; Badland Fund; and Badland Ventures. Hailer repaid the money in full in 2023.

As the South Dakota Reformer reported in June, discovery documents in the case showed Hailer had less than $750 combined across various business and personal bank accounts.

It’s not clear where the money came from that enabled Hailer to pay the settlement.

Nevertheless, Fox News published on 26 January 2026 that, “Rose Lake Capital showed an even sharper increase than eStCru, rising from a reported value of between $1 and $1,000 in 2023 to an asset range of $5 million to $25 million in 2024.”

The Rose Lake Capital Website

As noted above, the Rose Lake website is roselakecap.com If you don’t want to bother to see it, I’ll describe it. The first page and only page is titled “Exclusive Partnerships for Global Operators.”

Then comes “Unparalleled Previous Experience.” Below that it states: 5 diplomats; $60B AUM (Assets Under Management); 11 Free Trade Agreements Signed; 80+ Countries Where We’ve Worked. Below those notes there is a description of what Rose Lake Capital does.

“Rose Lake is focused on unique global opportunities where our experience can create bespoke solutions for our clients and partners.

“Our team of world class experts harness their combined centuries of experience, and deep global networks built from on-the-ground work in more than 80 countries working across business, politics, banking and diplomacy. Our expertise includes structuring deals, mergers and acquisitions, debt restructuring and capital raising. From distressed assets to buying publicly traded companies – our team has the prowess to execute the right opportunities.

“At Rose Lake we tap into our extensive global network to create strategic partnerships to maximize the strength of the businesses we partner with.”

That’s it. Now let’s unpack the claims Rose Lake Capital makes on its website.

5 Diplomats: The names have been quietly scrubbed on the website, but they were listed by the New York Post as: Lobbyist and former Obama Ambassador to Bahrain Adam Ereli; former Senator and Obama Ambassador to China Max Baucus; DNC Finance Chair associate Alex Hoffman; former DNC treasurer William Derrough; and former ex-CEO of Amalgamated Bank Keith Mestrich, who once described Amalgamated as “the institutional bank of the Democratic Party.”

Hailer’s name has also been scrubbed from the website, and his LinkedIn profile no longer lists Rose Lake Capital among his current activities. Offhand, I’d assume he realizes that he looks like he’s trying to absent himself from the impending investigations.

11 Free Trade Agreements. This claim can be dismissed because only governments can create Free Trade Agreements.

80+ Countries Where We’ve Worked. No countries are listed.

$60B AUM. Now $60 billion dollars under management would make any Wall Street tycoon come to attention! A firm that is managing 60 billion dollars would need an infrastructure, substantial staff, filings, and a regulatory footprint. You cannot quietly manage 60 billion dollars.

Real U.S. asset managers usually appear in SEC databases, financial regulator records, and public disclosures. I could find none.

Rose Lake Capital’s address is 80 M Street SE, Floor 1, Washington DC, 20003. It is a WeWork building. That means it could not house a major asset management company. Furthermore, if Rose Lake Capital does have $60 billion under management, the fees would be reflected in its revenue. Let’s examine the fees that could be earned by managing 60 billion dollars.

A 0.5% fee would earn $300 million per year. At 1% it earns $600 million per year. At 2% it earns $1.2 billion per year.

For a typical hedge fund, it’s a 2% management fee plus 20% of the profits. If the hedge fund has a $60 billion portfolio that earns 8% annually, the fee would be 2% for $4.8 billion in gains plus 20% of that — a $960 million performance fee. In a good year, that’s a total revenue of $2.16 billon! That is serious money and it takes a lot of serious people to earn it. Not just a desk in a WeWork building.

Where are those serious people?

President Trump versus Representative Ilhan Omar

Before Iran goaded President Trump into an ongoing attack that has decapitated the Iranian government, he called for an investigation of Omar’s sudden surge in wealth. Trump wrote in a social media post, “Additionally, the DOJ and Congress are looking at ‘Congresswoman’ Ilhan Omar, who left Somalia with NOTHING, and is now reportedly worth more than 44 Million Dollars. Time will tell all.”

He corrected his numbers with a subsequent post, “Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is worth over $30 Million Dollars. There is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician,” adding that Omar “should be investigated for Financial and Political Crimes, and that investigation should start, NOW.”

Omar has denied being a millionaire and has labeled such assertions as “ridiculous,” “categorically false” and part of a smear campaign. Yet her 2024 congressional financial disclosure form reported assets between $6 million and $30 million.

That certainly looks like she’s a “categorically false” millionaire.

The fierce battle between Omar and President Trump came to the notice of America during the State of the Union address to Congress. During that record speech, Trump called the Democrat side of the chamber “crazy” for not rising to honor the veterans he had invited. In return, Omar and her fellow Quad member Rashida Tlaib shouted cries of “liar” and “murderer” during the speech.

It was not their finest hour.

Rose Lake Capital: What Is Its Real Purpose?

As noted above, in 2022 Rose Lake Capital had $42.44 in its bank account. From that humble beginning it was valued at $5 million and $25 million and the eStCru winery was valued between $1 million and $5 million in Omar’s congressional 2024 financial disclosure form (filed in 2025). Omar’s office claims the disclosed valuations reflect the total estimated value of the businesses, not her or her husband’s personal stake, noting that Mynett is one of several partners.

The office did not name those “partners.”

Perhaps the eStCru winery was indeed a money laundering enterprise, but no evidence of that has yet surfaced. The Rose Lake Capital company might also be a money laundering venture, but no evidence of that has yet surfaced either.

Ilhan Omar represents Minnesota’s 5th District, where more than 100,000 Somalis live. Some of them have perpetrated a massive welfare fraud estimated by prosecutors to be more that 9 billion dollars. So far, Omar has not yet been implicated in that fraud.

So as of February 2026, no charges have been filed against Omar or Mynett. Nevertheless, if the House Oversight Committee and the Department of Justice pressure find evidence of criminal wrongdoing and if the Trump administration continues its insistence for forceful enforcement, the Ilhan Omar and Tim Mynett saga will remain very much alive.

What is certain is that if the coming wave of revelations shows fraud or criminality it will reshape Minnesota politics -- and Omar’s career.

Chet Nagle is an experienced analyst and commentator on international commerce, geopolitics, national security matters, the Middle East, and strategic communications. He has been on radio, has appeared in documentary films and has been a guest on television news programs. His columns have appeared in the Daily Caller, The Hill, Roll Call, and many other publications. He is a contributing editor for ANDmagazine.com and the European Security & Defense magazine.

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