A California winery co-owned by Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, has shut its doors for good amid scrutiny of the congresswoman’s family wealth.
The winery ceased business operations on April 4, two months after Republicans sent a letter demanding answers into the discrepancies between Omar’s congressional financial disclosures for 2024 and the one she filed just one year earlier, according to California business records.
In a February letter to Mynett, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said financial disclosures filed by his wife Omar “show eStCru LLC and Rose Lake Capital LLC, which you hold ownership stakes in, went from being worth as much as $51,000 in 2023 to as much as $30 million in 2024.”
Comer said the discrepancy sparked “serious public concerns” about how the Santa Rosa winery and venture capital firm “increased so dramatically in value only a year after reporting very limited assets.”
“Given that these companies do not publicly list their investors or where their money comes from, this sudden jump in value raises concerns that unknown individuals may be investing to gain influence with your wife.”
This week Omar claimed she and Mynett’s net worth wasn’t actually tens of millions of dollars after all, and they actually have less than $100,000 combined, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Her office told the outlet those numbers were made in error, and blamed their accountant.
Mynett’s business venture capital and boutique winery was started in the fall of 2021, after his prior consulting firm shut down.
The California winery has since followed the way of the capital group which is also now defunct.
It wasn’t a traditional brick and mortar winery, but rather just a label that subcontracted producers throughout the West Coast to bottle wines for them. When reached by The Post in February a spokesperson said the winery is dead.
The congressional probe appears to be late to the party, calling into question the winery’s business model. Many on social media have pointed out that they’ve been unable to access the winery’s website, which no longer exists, or buy anything for months.
“Cannot find anywhere to buy their wines. This is weird, like it’s not a real winery,” one person wrote on its Facebook page.
Another added, “I want to try a bottle of their fine wine – but I don’t know any distributors that sell it.”
A third person wrote, “No phone number, address is a different business, can’t order it because it doesn’t exist. Scam.”
The winery’s Instagram account was filled with beautiful photos of wine and people enjoying the tasty treat, along with more comments slamming the company as fake.
“Where can I buy your wine? Oh that’s right your winery is as fake as the supposed attack by your employee?” one person wrote.
The winery’s short existence was marked by scandal — despite being named “hot brand of the year” in 2022. By early 2023, its winemakers said they had stopped getting paid, and the brand was no longer advertising on social media.
It was hit with several fraud allegations and lawsuits from investors, according to a 2024 report in the Minnesota Reformer. Former employees also told the newspaper that they hadn’t been paid.
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