Former chamber leader pleads guilty to mail fraud

The former CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce returned to federal court Monday, where he admitted stealing more than $200,000 as part of a years-long embezzlement scheme.

Jonathan Weinhagen pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in connection with $30,000 that the Chamber donated to Crimestoppers following the 2021 shootings of three children in north Minneapolis.

With the crimes still unsolved a year after the shootings, Weinhagen asked the Chamber to return the money and told the organization to send the check to his home, which he said falsely was the Chamber’s new mailing address. Responding to questions from Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Murphy, Weinhagen said that he used the cash to pay his personal expenses.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop four other counts listed in an October grand jury indictment including wire fraud, attempted bank fraud and making a false statement on a loan application.

Weinhagen, 42, who became CEO of the Chamber in 2016, stepped down in 2024 following an internal investigation that found a $500,000 deficit at the nonprofit, which promotes the region on behalf of its member businesses.

Though Weinhagen pleaded guilty to a single count, he admitted that the facts in the indictment supporting all of the charges are true.

In late 2019, Weinhagen invented a fictional company called Synergy Partners and named the nonexistent James Sullivan as its owner. Weinhagen then signed three fraudulent consulting contracts with Synergy on the Chamber’s behalf worth $107,500.

A year later, Weinhagen opened a line of credit in the Chamber’s name and drew $125,000 from it, and transferred the funds to Synergy. He also used a Chamber credit card to book first-class airfare to Hawaii for his family, pay for a two-bedroom oceanfront room, and created fake documents to make it appear that the $15,000 in expenses were for legitimate Chamber business.

At the plea hearing, Weinhagen also confirmed that he solicited $50,000 from an unnamed Minneapolis business and $10,000 from another, purportedly on behalf of the All of Mpls political fund, and used the cash to pay down the credit line.

When Chamber staff discovered the borrowing, Weinhagen sent emails from Synergy saying that it had gone out of business. He also published a fake obituary in April 2024 that said the nonexistent Sullivan had died of pancreatic cancer at age 62. Legacy.com deleted the post soon after Weinhagen was indicted.

Five months after Weinhagen left the Chamber, he submitted a loan application to SoFi Bank and gave the lender a fake paystub that showed he earned $425,000 a year at a Minnesota-based restaurant holding company. The bank denied Weinhagen’s application.

Weinhagen faces 27 to 33 months in prison under the terms of his plea deal, but the final decision on his sentence is up to U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel. The agreement also calls for Weinhagen to repay $213,201 in restitution to the Chamber and the two businesses from which he solicited fraudulent donations.