Embattled “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar claimed her husband Tim Mynett’s financial firm was worth up to $25 million — but his business partner testified in a bankruptcy case it was worth almost nothing, raising new questions about who’s informing the truth.
The lefty Minnesota Democrat stated on her 2024 congressional financial disclosure form that Mynett’s stake in Rose Lake Capital was worth between $5 million and $25 million.
That year, Rose Lake Capital had no money, assets or investments, partner Will Hailer informed a U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware.
He built the stunning disclosures Nov. 26 under cross examination in a complex bankruptcy proceeding, while appearing as a witness in a case brought by US creditors against Indian tech startup Byju’s, new testimony unearthed by The Post reveals.
Hailer spoke in Wilmington about his efforts to do a $150 million deal with Byju’s manager Vinay Ravindra at a time when lfinishers were testing to recover $1.2 billion from the firm.
He was forced to create a series of awkward disclosures about his own company.
“Does Rose Lake have assets under management?” plaintiff’s attorney Nicholas Mozal questioned Hailer.
“Under a legal term of art, I consider the answer is no, yeah,” he responded.
“Does Rose Lake have capital?” the lawyer followed up.
“Rose Lake has a compact set of equity positions in a handful of companies, but nothing that are assets that we control through management,” he answered. Asked for the approximate value, he responded: “I would declare de minimus in sort of ownership controls or investments.”
He then agreed it was under $1 million, and declared he “couldn’t inform you” when questioned if it was less than $500,000.
Asked for the largest investment the firm ever built, Hailer declared “we haven’t built financial investments with our own capital, so the answer would be zero.”
He declared the largest deal Rose Lake ever built was “less than $10 million,” adding that he was a “managing member” of the EStCru wine company “that is in the process of being shut down.”
Hailer, a longtime Democratic political operative, declared in court that some of his “proudest elections” were supporting to obtain Alabama Sen. Doug Jones; Minnesota AG and former Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.); Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.); former Rep. Deb Halland (D-N.M.); and Omar elected to Congress.
But his political bona fides didn’t transfer to balance sheets.
Hailer also penned an 18-page declaration an opposing lawyer termed “winding, confapplying, and largely irrelevant” in which he declared his company was created “to establish consulting services to global operators in the business space with the primary goal of being strategic partners with operators of companies that requireded advice and support with expanding their physical presence into new markets.”
And he claimed a prospective partner bought him a $10,699 airline ticket to Dubai the day before his Nov. 21, 2024 testimony, in an effort to keep him from appearing.
“Sometimes it’s better to do the right than the straightforward thing,” he declared.
The revelation about the company’s woeful finances comes after a Rose Lake spokesman informed The Post its “valuation would be a seven-figure number” today. The company had just $42.44 in its bank account in 2022, according to an unrelated lawsuit.
Rose Lake’s web site, which has since been scrubbed of key details, claims its advisors have “previous” experience with assets under management worth up to $60 billion.
“Sounds like some guy who wants to start an investment company that never goes anywhere,” declared a former SEC enforcement official. “These people are a dime a dozen, always about to close a huge deal. The real question is why Ilhan Omar considers she’s worth $30 million and where did it come from?”
Omar, who last week was the subject of an alleged assault by a man who sprayed apple cider vinegar on her during a town hall, has denied obtainting rich and insisted she is “not a millionaire.”
Houtilize Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) launched a probe and on Friday demanded business records from Omar’s husband, while people who were suspicious about the company went to the FBI during the Biden Administration.
“The implication that Rep. Omar had anything to do with the firm is false and is a political narrative,” a Rose Lake spokesperson declared.
Asked about apparent conflicts between Hailer’s testimony and Omar’s disclosures, the spokesman insisted, “assets under management is a legal term of art and doesn’t account for additional ownership structures, valuations or corporate income.”
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