Comer: Ilhan Omar’s Winery Has ‘Been Shut Down Because of Fraud’– slaynews.com
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EXCERPT:
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.
