Article By David Lindfield
A winery co-owned by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and her husband has been shut down due to allegations of fraud, according to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY).
The wine business, which Omar previously listed with a multi-million-dollar value in financial disclosures, sold investors empty barrels purportedly containing wine to be aged before shutting down amid fraud allegations.
Comer highlighted the allegations during an appearance on Fox News, renewing scrutiny of a business whose reported value soared on Omar’s financial disclosures before she attributed discrepancies to an accounting error.
“I can tell you from our initial investigation of Omar and her financial disclosure form that there are multiple fronts where you could get a search warrant issued,” Comer told host Trey Gowdy.
“First of all, not only was there a huge discrepancy in the financial disclosure form, there was the winery that was the big base of her $25 million listing on her financial disclosure form.
“That winery has, according to the press, been shut down because of fraud,” Comer said.
WATCH:
In 2023, Ilhan Omar’s financial disclosure valued her husband’s businesses at $51,000. In 2024, the disclosure put them at as much as $30 million, according to House Oversight Chairman James Comer. Comer says a winery was at the center of that jump. He calls it "the big base of her $25 million listing on her financial disclosure form." Then he says the winery closed. "That winery has, according to the press, been shut down because of fraud," he says. He describes the alleged scheme in one sentence. Investors paid for barrels of wine that were supposed to sit, age and gain value. "They were apparently selling investors barrels of wine to be aged, but there was nothing in the barrels," Comer says. He compares it to fly-by-night bourbon distilleries in Kentucky and says he is very familiar with that kind of case. Comer says a jump that big raises questions about where the money came from. He also asks whether undisclosed investors were trying to buy political influence. Asked about a search warrant, he says his committee’s early review found "multiple fronts where you could get a search warrant issued." He says the warrant was approved within 60 days of an election, which in his words means it "has to be 100 percent lawful." All of this is Comer’s account, given in an interview. The clip does not include a response from Omar. In 2023, the businesses were listed at $51,000. By 2024, the listing went as high as $30 million, and the barrels, he says, were empty. How many investors check what is actually inside the barrel before they pay for it?
— dweewq (@eweqss1431) October 20, 2026
The California winery, eStCru, was co-founded in 2020 by Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, and a business partner.
It closed in April amid congressional scrutiny of the congresswoman’s finances.
Winery Stake Jumped From Thousands To Millions
Comer questioned the business’s valuation in a February letter to Mynett, pointing to a dramatic change between Omar’s annual financial disclosures.
Her 2023 filing valued the winery stake between $15,001 and $50,000.
The following year’s disclosure placed it between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000.
“There are serious public concerns about how your businesses increased so dramatically in value only a year after reporting very limited assets,” Comer’s letter said.
Omar subsequently attributed the financial disclosure discrepancy to an accidental accounting error. In mid-April, she told The Wall Street Journal that she and Mynett had less than $100,000 combined.
The winery had previously attracted favorable industry attention, with Wine Business naming it among its “Hot Brands of 2022.”
Its closure and the fraud allegations have now resurfaced as Omar faces separate federal scrutiny.
Comer’s statements describe allegations; they do not establish that Omar or Mynett committed fraud.
Oversight Referred Financial Concerns To Ethics Panel
The House Oversight Committee said it had already referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee.
“Regarding the investigation into her spouse, the House Oversight Committee referred the matter months ago to the House Ethics Committee and encouraged it to do its job and review the concerning allegations,” a committee spokesperson said in a statement.
The bipartisan Ethics Committee investigates alleged misconduct by lawmakers and can recommend punishment when it finds wrongdoing.
It has not yet taken up Omar’s case.
The financial questions are separate from the immigration investigation that prompted federal agents to search Omar’s Washington, D.C., home earlier this month.
That investigation concerns allegations that Omar and her father misrepresented her age in immigration paperwork to help her obtain citizenship.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) has called for Omar’s deportation if the allegations are proven.
Omar and her allies have denied wrongdoing and characterized the investigation as political targeting of a prominent critic of President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, the Ethics Committee has yet to review the financial allegations Comer referred, including questions about how a winery stake reported in the tens of thousands of dollars was valued in the millions just one year later.
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