Minneapolis CEO accused of embezzling $200K for personal expenses — including first-class trip to Hawaii

A Minnesota CEO accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars is expected to plead guilty to the scheme that “could make a TV movie,” according to reports and prosecutors.

Jonathan Weinhagen, the CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, has been accused of embezzling over $200,000 from the organization and using the funds to splurge on an oceanfront stay in Hawaii, among other things, according to the Star Tribune and court records obtained by The Post.

Weinhagen, 42, who was hit with federal charges in October, is expected to plead guilty to five counts of fraud for the embezzlement case — where the rising star allegedly created a fictional company, a phony obituary and stole from a $30,000 chamber donation to a Crime Stoppers reward fund, according to the outlet and court records.

“When I first heard about it, it was like ‘Good God, what?’” Scott Burns, who worked with Weinhagen when he was on the St. Paul Chamber’s board, told the outlet.

“I can’t piece it together,” Burns said. “You could make a TV movie out of it.”

The married father of four abruptly resigned from his position in June 2024. The rising star worked at his family’s St. Paul auto repair shop before landing the top position at the Minneapolis Chamber at the age of 33. He made $275,000 in 2023.

The chamber revealed Weinhagen’s departure came after an internal investigation discovered a large deficit, leading to the axing of five staffers, the outlet said.

Roughly $290,000 in chamber money vanished during his tenure, financially hobbling the organization and forcing it into merger talks earlier this year, according to the outlet.

The elaborate scheme lasted from 2019 until the month he resigned, and involved him stealing over $200,000 from the chamber under the alias “James Sullivan,” of the fake consulting company “Synergy Partners,” his indictment said.

After the chamber began to catch on to the fraud, Weinhagen allegedly tried to “cover his tracks” by saying Synergy disbanded and Sullivan had died from pancreatic cancer, prosecutors said.

He announced Sullivan’s death in a faux obituary posted to Legacy.com in 2024.

Weinhagen also allegedly used a Minneapolis chamber credit card for personal expenses, including taking him and his family on a first-class trip to Hawaii for a two-bedroom oceanfront hotel stay, the indictment detailed.

He also allegedly tried in 2025, after he left the chamber, to obtain a $54,000 loan from SoFi bank, court records said.

The alleged corrupt CEO even stole money from a $30,000 reward fund for tips on solving three 2021 shootings involving children, prosecutors alleged.

The chamber donated the money to Crime Stoppers, but in 2022, when the money was still unclaimed, Weinhagen allegedly asked for the $30,000 back and asked for a refund check to be sent to his home address, the indictment said.

He then allegedly used the cash for his personal expenses.

Weinhagen is expected to have his plea hearing on Monday in the US District Court in St. Paul. His attorney did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

The allegations come as Minnesota is under fire after millions of dollars in taxpayer money were stolen in a massive series of welfare fraud schemes — some of which may have been funneled to Somalia-based terror group al-Shabab, City Journal reported earlier this month, citing federal counterterrorism sources.