{"id":867,"date":"2025-12-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=867"},"modified":"2025-12-07T08:10:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T14:10:51","slug":"hennepin-county-ex-chamber-ceo-mail-fraud-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/hennepin-county-ex-chamber-ceo-mail-fraud-plea\/","title":{"rendered":"Hennepin County: Ex Chamber CEO Mail Fraud Plea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hennepin County (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 Former Minneapolis Regional Chamber CEO Jonathan Weinhagen has pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Booking<\/div>\n

Prosecutors say the 42-year-old admitted guilt Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.
\nHe pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.<\/p>\n

According to court records, Weinhagen stole more than $200,000 from the chamber over several years.
\nThe embezzlement weakened the business group’s finances.<\/p>\n

He was first charged in October with five fraud counts.
\nThe case involved a made-up company, a fake obituary, and misused donations.
\nOn Monday, he acknowledged all of the indictment’s claims.<\/p>\n

The single mail fraud count is tied to a $30,000 Crime Stoppers donation.
\nThe chamber intended the money for a reward fund.
\nIt was meant to help solve three 2021 child shooting cases in north Minneapolis,
\ntwo of which were deadly.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say Weinhagen kept the $30,000 instead.
\nHe also redirected money from two companies that believed they were helping a political fund.
\nThose funds were meant for All of Mpls<\/em>, which supports moderate DFL candidates.<\/p>\n

Instead, officials say he used the money to pay off a credit line.
\nThat line of credit was in the chamber’s name but used for personal costs.<\/p>\n

Under the plea, Weinhagen faces an expected prison range of 27 to 33 months.
\nHe also faces a fine that could reach $95,000.
\nA sentencing date has not yet been set.<\/p>\n

He agreed to pay $213,200 in restitution.
\nThat includes $153,000 to the chamber and $60,000 to two companies.
\nThose firms are not publicly named in the documents.<\/p>\n

Background on federal mail fraud laws is available through the\u00a0U.S. Department of Justice<\/a>.
\nCrime Stoppers programs and reward policies are outlined on the\u00a0Crime Stoppers USA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Minneapolis Regional Chamber explains its role in the city’s business community
\non its website<\/a>.
\nLeaders there say they are working to recover from the losses.<\/p>\n

Weinhagen did not speak about his motives during the hearing.
\nHe left the court without commenting to reporters.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for\u00a0TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hennepin County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 Former Minneapolis Regional Chamber CEO Jonathan Weinhagen has pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud. Prosecutors say the 42-year-old admitted guilt Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. According to court records, Weinhagen stole more than $200,000 from the chamber over several… Continue reading Hennepin County: Ex Chamber CEO Mail Fraud Plea<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[2022,2019,768,772,1514,1513,1515,1838,2021,1508,1511,2018,1512,1509,1510,2020,1516,786,1517,1518],"class_list":["post-867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-ceo","tag-chamber","tag-county","tag-crime","tag-crime-stoppers-donation","tag-embezzlement","tag-federal-court","tag-fraud","tag-hennepin","tag-hennepin-county","tag-jonathan-weinhagen","tag-mail","tag-mail-fraud","tag-minneapolis","tag-minneapolis-regional-chamber","tag-plea","tag-st-paul-minnesota","tag-trf-news","tag-u-s-district-court","tag-white-collar-crime","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":903,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions\/903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}