Far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar’s primary opponent accused the Minnesota Democratic congresswoman Thursday of “deception” about her husband’s shady business dealings.
Don Samuels, a former member of the Minneapolis City Council who is running to unseat Omar in the 5th Congressional District, held a press conference to highlight a Minnesota Reformer report on the legal troubles of Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, related to ventures involving a California winery and South Dakota marijuana growers.
Neither of the ventures panned out — and the latter group was unable to recoup its investments in part due to funds from one of Mynett’s former companies being frozen by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
That federal agency usually probes or penalizes companies for dealings with US adversaries such as Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Samuels detailed the troubling financial history to reporters — and accused Omar of failing to fully own up to assets from her husband’s businesses on congressional financial disclosures.
“Representative Omar has used her time for three terms in Congress — what many would consider the opportunity and honor of a lifetime — to divide our community and enrich herself in the process,” he said.
Mynett and his business partner, Will Hailer, initially promised Washington, DC-area restaurant owner Naeem Mohd in the fall of 2021 that they would triple Mohd’s $300,000 investment into their proposed California winery, according to the Reformer report.
But the venture failed in 2023. While Mohd regained his initial investment, he later filed suit seeking $780,000 for breach of contract, since he had been promised interest for a late return.
Three other companies currently owned by Hailer — and previously owned by Mynett — still owe $1.2 million to investors in the cannabis venture, after having only paid back $500,000.
The entrepreneurs are now suing Hailer for the rest of the money. Mynett is named in the lawsuit, but is not a defendant.
Omar’s financial disclosures list income of between $5,001 and $15,000 in 2021 and between $15,001 and $50,000 in 2022 from an “EstVenture LLC,” one of the three companies linked to the marijuana venture.
The Somalia-born congresswoman also reported between $65,000 and $150,000 in assets from the California winery, “estCru, LLC,” in 2021 and 2022 and up to $1,000 before it folded in 2023.
Another one of Mynett’s ventures, Born to Run GP LLC, which he husband initially joined with Hailer but left in early 2022, is never listed in past disclosures — despite reportedly controlling up to $50 million in investments.
Samuels also drew attention to Omar funneling almost $3 million to Mynett’s political consulting firm during her first year in office before agreeing to no longer use their services.
“It seems since that time, she has potentially found other ways to fund her own bottom line,” he noted.
“Based on the Reformer story, it looks like there’s very little money in the recorded entities that are on disclosures, and potentially millions of dollars in the underlying entities that are not exposed,” a Samuels campaign aide said at the presser.
Until 2021, Omar’s disclosures reported assets of between $100,001 and $1 million from Mynett’s firm, E Street Group.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) decided the following year that the congresswoman had not “knowingly and willfully violated” the law by “converting campaign funds to personal use” or “improperly reporting payee information.”
Samuels further noted that the congresswoman concealed her Qatari government-sponsored trip to the 2022 World Cup — and another visit the same year to Pakistan, where her food and lodging was paid for by the Islamabad government.
Martha Holton Dimick, a former prosecutor, judge and 2022 candidate for Hennepin County Attorney, later addressed reporters at the presser to note Samuels had opposed Omar’s calls to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department.
“She wanted no Minneapolis Police officers; she wanted a new era — and it was Don Samuels that came along with other Senate civic leaders and prevented that from happening,” Dimick said.
“I know he’s going to take that attitude and that collaborative effort and his personality and his temperament, and he’s going to be able to cross the aisle and work with people,” she added.
“Ever since Ilhan has been in office, she has been divisive.”
Omar and Samuels will face off in the Democratic primary Aug. 13.
Neither Omar’s congressional nor her campaign immediately responded to a request for comment.
