Questions surrounding the sudden rise in wealth claimed by Rep. Ilhan Omar intensified this week after new reporting revealed that her husband’s investment firm, Rose Lake, had its registrations canceled in Delaware and Washington, D.C., for unpaid taxes, according to a discussion aired between television host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery and Steve Forbes.

Montgomery opened the segment by referencing comments from Ilhan Omar, who claimed that scrutiny of her finances amounted to criticism of her “living the American dream.”

Montgomery said new information raises further questions about the source of Omar’s reported wealth and that of her husband.

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“Okay, that was far left Congresswoman Ilhan Omar claiming the Justice Department and Congress probing her sudden skyrocketing wealth to $30 million in just one year, that they have a problem with her living the American dream,” Montgomery said.

“You heard her say, the goddamn United States of America. We’ve got new questions on where she and her husband got all that money.”

Montgomery cited reporting that Rose Lake, the investment firm associated with Omar’s husband, had its registrations canceled for failing to pay back taxes.

“Your magazine has reported this too, that the state of Delaware and Washington DC canceled the registrations for Omar’s husband’s investment firm, Rose lake for not paying its back taxes,” she said.

“We saw it owed more than 400,000 to Delaware and nearly 1800 to DC. She’s claiming it’s worth 25 million from less than a grand a year before. How can his investment firm not afford to pay taxes? It’s supposedly worth an estimated 75 million. 100 50 million. This is really weird stuff.”

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Forbes responded by calling for further scrutiny of the financial claims and the firm’s operations.

“Well, weird is not the word for it. There’s another word for it, called crooked, and that’s why we have to have an investigation into this,” Forbes said.

He noted that a prior examination of Omar’s finances did not lead to charges.

“As you know, the Biden administration examined, started examining her finances, and then that of her husband and so, so, surprise, surprise, that investigation went nowhere.”

Forbes questioned how the couple’s net worth could increase so rapidly.

“But it’s amazing how people can go into Congress and then become these entrepreneurial investing geniuses, where they come in, she had under $1,000 of net worth, and her husband didn’t have much, and suddenly, now they’re multi millionaires,” he said.

“Is there a money laundering operation here?”

Montgomery pressed further, pointing to what she described as a lack of public evidence supporting the firm’s valuation and operations.

She said the firm appeared to share office space at a WeWork location and lacked a visible track record.

“There’s no track record of his firm, managing money, doing M and A deals, no clients,” she said.

“We see investment deals or any work it’s done. They say they do work in 80 nations, operating in there’s no SEC registrations from them as investment advisors. What is going on here? This increasingly looks sketchy, both the winery and his investment firm.”

Forbes echoed those concerns and suggested that both the winery and the firm warranted closer examination.

“Yeah, the winery may not exist, and the firm may be just, really a name only, as you say, a WeWork office, big deal,” he said.

“So that’s why the investigation needs to be done.” He added a prediction regarding the source of the reported wealth:

“And suddenly, all that 30 million, I think you’re going to find, I’ll make a speculation or prediction that 30 million came from sources that were illegal, period.”

Montgomery closed the segment by saying the outlet would continue to follow developments.

“Thank you so much, Steve Forbes, helping us to break it down. We’re going to stay on the story.”

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