Records: Businesswoman hosted Whitmer fundraiser while seeking $20M earmark

• Michigan businesswoman entangled in $20M earmark probe hosted a fundraiser for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer while seeking the funding
• Fay Beydoun claimed Whitmer “requested” the Michigan Economic Development Corporation approve funding for the project
• State investigators and Michigan Economic Development Corporation officials are in court over a contentious search warrant

LANSING — A businesswoman at the center of a budget earmark embezzlement probe hosted a 2021 fundraiser for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer around the time she claimed the governor was helping secure funding for the ill-fated project, according to records reviewed by Bridge Michigan.

Whitmer raised $13,500 at the September 2021 fundraiser hosted at the Farmington Hills home of Fay Beydoun, who personally donated more than $16,000 to the Democratic governor between two campaigns. 

While Whitmer disclosed the fundraiser in a 2021 campaign filing, it was not known at the time that Beydoun was seeking funding from the state as she attempted to launch an international business accelerator. 

Recent court documents suggest Whitmer and her inner circle were at least aware of discussions over what eventually became a $20 million grant that was included in a 2022 budget bill the governor signed into law.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave "their nod of approval as the governor requested," Beydoun wrote in an undated email to Tricia Foster, the governor's chief operating officer.  "The project will be included in the supplemental budget."

The email, which preceded the grant and was first reported by The Detroit News, was disclosed in an ongoing court feud between the MEDC and Attorney General Dana Nessel. Her office is investigating the earmark for Global Link International, which Beydoun had filed paperwork to create shortly before securing the grant. 

Whitmer Chief of Staff JoAnne Huls also expects to be among the "witnesses" in the ongoing earmark investigation, according to attorney Gerald Gleeson, who said in a court filing that he had been asked to represent Huls and "personnel at the MEDC."

Whitmer’s staff declined to discuss the grant, saying only that then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth was identified as the legislative sponsor, which the Legislature confirmed but he has disputed. 

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Beydoun also declined to comment on the investigation when reached by Bridge Michigan.

In her email to Whitmer’s COO, Beydoun also claimed MEDC CEO Quentin Messer Jr. was "aware" the agency had approved the project, along with Susan Corbin, who was senior deputy director at the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and now leads the department. 

A Global Link employee interviewed by investigators said she later told Messer that Beydoun was "operating with no oversight and misspending money" but he indicated she was a "friend" and did nothing with the information, according to a court filing by Nessel's office, which raided MEDC offices last month. 

The MEDC, which did not respond to a request for comment, is now seeking to block some documents confiscated in the raid, claiming attorney-client privilege. It’s also objecting to the attorney general’s plans to use a “taint team,” which would involve other attorney general staff reviewing documents to determine what investigators can view. 

Oakland County District Court Judge James Brady has ruled in Nessel’s favor and is allowing the review to proceed, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office confirmed Tuesday. The MEDC has until July 11 to appeal the decision.

Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, a Porter Township Republican seeking the 2026 gubernatorial nomination, on Monday called for a federal investigation, citing Detroit News reporting that Whitmer had signed a letter to Qatari officials that Beydoun had authored. 

“Official email records confirm that Beydoun communicated directly with the governor’s office to secure the grant," Nesbitt said in a statement. "It’s now alleged that top MEDC officials not only knew about the arrangement, but also attempted to hide and withhold evidence from investigators."

Origin story

The $20 million earmark for Global Link was not included in any 2021 supplemental spending bills, as Beydoun had initially indicated would happen. Instead, it was included in a state budget that was approved in 2022 by a Republican-led Legislature and signed into law by Whitmer. 

That budget included more than $1 billion in legislative earmarks, including a $25 million grant for a Clare health park that was also investigated by Nessel, who in May charged a former legislative aide with embezzlement and other alleged crimes. 

State business records show Global Link was only incorporated as a nonprofit 10 days after the budget bill passed out of the legislature in July 2022. The legislature’s grant said the $20 million was intended for an “an international business accelerator” located in Farmington Hills that would attract “top international entrepreneurs to establish their companies in Michigan.”

The Detroit News first reported the existence of the grant and Beydoun’s spending which reportedly included a $4,500 coffee maker, a salary of $550,000 and $11,000 first-class plane ticket to Europe. 

‘Stonewalled’

While the MEDC previously claimed it was cooperating with the Global Link investigation, Nessel’s office says that is not the case. 

“Far from cooperation, MEDC has stonewalled this investigation regarding documents and witnesses,” lawyers from the AG’s department wrote in a recent court filing. 

In particular, the attorney general’s office alleges MEDC Chief General Counsel Linda Asciutto clashed with investigators during the June 18 raid on MEDC offices.

“I’d rather just get arrested,” Asciutto told investigators as they searched her office, according to a transcript of an audio recording of the search.

Asciutto said an investigator from the attorney general’s office was “going to pay for this.” She argued that everything investigators attempted to seize as evidence was subject to attorney-client privilege, and exempt from review by investigators. 

Investigator Steve Morse, said in an affidavit that Asciutto “directly intended to prevent investigators from accessing evidence that we were there to seize under the warrant.

“Had we not searched Asciutto’s office over her objection, we would not have located (documents) that were definitely within the scope of the search warrant,” Morse wrote.

It’s against Michigan law to purposefully attempt to conceal evidence that could be used in a future criminal proceeding. Morse said he concluded that MEDC was intentionally refusing to cooperate with the attorney general’s investigation. 

Beydoun donations, conflicts

Beydoun has been a longtime Democratic supporter and Whitmer ally. She has given more than $44,000 to Democratic causes since 2004 at the state level, but gave close to $9,000 in 2022, the year of Global Link’s grant.

Whitmer appointed Beydoun to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Executive Committee in April 2019. She was among 11 board members named in Whitmer’s first months as governor to the 15-member governing body for the state’s business growth initiatives.

At the time, Beydoun was executive director of American Arab Chamber of Commerce, described as the largest such group in the US. She also was chief operating officer of the chamber’s Tejara innovation hub.

According to a report in the Arab American News, Beydoun was the chamber’s executive director when she obtained the grant in July 2022. In a recent court filing, investigators noted she also still sat on the “the MEDC board that would be in charge of administering that grant.”

Beydoun left the chamber in March 2023, the Detroit News reported, taking the grant with her and leaving confusion behind at the chamber.

Beydoun’s last MEDC executive board meeting was on March 19, 2024, according to minutes. Six months later, officials received a public reminder at the September board meeting that “everyone signs a conflict-of-interest policy” with a request from board chair Awenate Cobbina that “as professionals, we go about and beyond to avoid the appearance of real or perceived conflicts.”

She had also been a finance co-chair of now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s campaign, but the campaign severed ties with her after news of the investigation became public.

Bridge Reporter Paula Gardner contributed to this story.