Exclusive | House probe to unravel mystery of ‘Squad’ Rep. Ilhan Omar’s skyrocketing wealth

The House Oversight Committee is probing “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar’s skyrocketing family wealth after a $9 billion Somali social services fraud exploded in her district,The Post has learned. 

Oversight panel Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said staff lawyers are exploring the extraordinary step of subpoenaing Omar’s spouse over his allegedly shady business practices.

“We’re going to get answers, whether it’s through the Ethics Committee or the Oversight Committee, one of the two,” he told The Post.

Republicans want to know how Somali-born Omar (D-Minn.) and her politically-connected husband Tim Mynett went from nearly broke to being worth up to $30 million in just a year, according to her 2024 disclosure forms.

“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.”

Separately, federal law enforcement is also probing.

“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.

Unlike the Biden administration, which took no apparent action, Team Trump is “on top of it,” the source said.

The comments came as The Post learned the FBI was briefed during the Biden administration on suspicions about an array of companies run by Omar’s hubby.

Investment firm Rose Lake Capital, formed by Mynett and partner Will Hailer in 2022, is part of a web of companies created by the lefty “Squad” member’s husband of five years.

Rose Lake Capital had a paltry $42.44 in its bank account in late 2022, according to court documents in a lawsuit against a related company filed in South Dakota.

Yet the firm rocketed in value from zero to up to $25 million in just a year, according to Omar’s 2024 filing.

Associates were perplexed enough in 2024 about alleged irregularities and questions about where the money was coming from that they brought information to the attention of federal investigators, sources said.

They wondered whether the businesses — including a winery — might be up to something improper, since none had a public track record.

Several prominent people had previously been listed as advising the Rose Lake firm, but are no longer present on its bright pink web page. They include former Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who once chaired the Senate Finance Committee and served as U.S. Ambassador to China under Barack Obama.

Baucus said he had a single phone call with Hailer back in 2022 about a proposed deal to make storage units. “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.

“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,” he said. Baucus said no one ever asked to use his name as an “advisor” on the company website.

Also previously listed were former Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who once chaired the House Agriculture Committee, and J. Peter Pham, a fellow at the Atlantic Council who served as President Trump’s Special Envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes Regions.

“Obviously I’ve seen reporting, including in The Post, about Will’s partner who I’ve never met and his wife [Omar] – Tim and his wife’s sudden coming into riches. But [I] can’t say anything about that, other than certainly I had no share in that,” said Pham, who indicated he had a single meeting about a potential deal to build solar panels in South Africa and was called an “advisor” by the company. Peterson didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Rose Lake’s website claims to have had officers with “previous” experience managing assets worth $60 billion, an amount that would make the firm a player that might attract notice.

But Wall Street insiders told The Post they had never heard of Rose Lake, or of anyone investing with them despite the firm boasting on its website that it had been running billions of dollars of assets under management and engaging in an array of high-end financial activities including “deals, mergers and acquisitions, debt restructuring and capital raising.”

Another Wall Street source expressed shock that Mynett — a longtime political consultant in Minnesota — was suddenly running a financial firm.

The firm also is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street’s top regulator, and doesn’t say how much it is managing now.

The Dodd Frank reforms imposed after the 2008 financial crisis created registration requirements for advisors overseeing $100 million in assets, or $150 million for private fund advisors, with some exceptions. So-called family offices can sidestep disclosure rules because they don’t solicit outside investors. Venture capital firms are also exempt and Rose Lake touts VC work as one of its specialties.

Still, Rose Lake’s boast on its website that it does private equity work and that its officers’ had billions in “previous” assets under management would suggest the fund would be required to register, said a former high-ranking SEC official. “I would continue to push on the disclosure issue because this looks funny,” the person said.

Financial experts have also pointed to multiple variations of similar names for Rose Lake entities as raising “red flags,” and that the company was scrubbing a list of its officers from its site in the wake of the multi-billion dollar fraud scheme involving the Somali community in his wife’s district after a front-page report from The Post.

In recent days, the firm has deactivated its LinkedIn page. Hailer is no longer mentioned on it.

His own LinkedIn page no longer lists the firm – although it does identify him as a co-owner of the eStCru winery, which he launched with Mynett in 2020.

Hailer previously worked as political director for then-Democratic National Committee chair Keith Ellison, now Minnesota’s attorney general.

The widening web of investigations are long overdue, House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told The Post.

“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.

“The explosion of wealth, plus the fact that convicted fraudsters helped fund Omar’s campaign, is worth an investigation by the Ethics Committee at the very least.”

An SEC spokesman would not comment when asked about Rose Lake and its filings. The Post has contacted Mynett, Hailer, and Rep. Omar’s office seeking comment.