A $20 million state grant given to Fay Beydoun, a Metro Detroit businesswoman in 2022 continues to raise concerns as former associates — including the chairman of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce — question the means by which the money was obtained and how it’s being spent.

Fay Beydoun, who received the $20 million grant to launch a business accelerator organization, spent $408,000 of the state taxpayer money on salaries in a three-month period for what appears to be herself and one other employee, according to financial disclosures obtained by The Detroit News through a public records request.

• $11,000 for a single flight to attend a conference in Budapest

• $408,000 for a three-month period of salaries for what appears to be herself and one other employee.

• $130,000 on legal and consulting fees incurred in the first nine months of operations.

• $40,000 for furniture.

Beydoun paid $11,000 for a single flight to attend a conference in Budapest and $4,500 for a coffee maker. She dropped $100,000 in taxpayer money to sponsor an event led by a Michigan business founders group and another $130,000 on legal and consulting fees incurred over her fledgling business’ first nine months of operations.

As of December, records showed Beydoun had spent more than $800,000 of the first $10 million installment of the grant for Global Link International, an entity that didn’t exist when Michigan lawmakers awarded it $20 million.

The spending comes as two of Beydoun’s former associates said she cut them out of the project after securing the direct payment from the Michigan legislature that bypassed the state’s ordinary grant-awarding processes.

Fay Beydoun

Beydoun defended her costs so far and said she’s already received millions of dollars in monetary commitments toward a business retention and attraction fund.

“My intentions have always been to strengthen Michigan’s global footprint and attract businesses to the state of Michigan from all over the world,” she said.

Her spending is being monitored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation — where she sits on the executive committee — but the expenses won’t be reviewed or audited until after she’s spent the first $10 million of the grant, the state agency said.

It’s not clear how many times, if at all, the MEDC has clawed back money given through a legislative grant following an audit. The MEDC required a formal request for public records regarding any such incidents; The News is waiting for a response to that request.

While the state delays reviews of Beydoun’s costs until the first $10 million has been spent, some former associates have called for increased scrutiny of her grant.

Both the American Arab Chamber of Commerce in Dearborn and Okemos businessman Sharif Hussein, who helped Beydoun obtain the money, questioned whether the Democratic political donor, former Michigan Democratic Party vice chair and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointee misrepresented what the grant was meant to finance.

Beydoun was the chamber’s executive director when she obtained the grant in July 2022. She left the chamber weeks after The News first reported on the money in March 2023; the chamber is still searching for answers on how the grant went to Beydoun and not the chamber itself.

Whitmer appointee Fay Beydoun gets questionable $20M business grant with vague use

“We’re hoping things become more transparent about how this money is being used to improve the state of Michigan,” said Ahmed Chebbani, chairman and co-founder of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce. “And we hope the MEDC is making sure there is a return on investment for taxpayers.”

Beydoun rejected the accusations by the chamber and the individual who helped her secure the loan, arguing they were the result of neither an individual receiving funding and a reticence to accept female leadership. She argued her funding was secured in a “public and transparent” legislative process — an apparent reference to the legislature adding nearly $1 billion in special projects to a budget bill that was negotiated behind closed doors late at night, a few hours before lawmakers were asked to vote on it.

“They are inconsistent allegations coming from two opportunistic, sophisticated, successful businessmen,” Beydoun said Tuesday of the concerns raised about the grant. “If the allegations were true, you can be certain that there would be an existence of a legal document supporting their claims.”

Chamber searching for answers

The News first reported on Beydoun’s grant in March 2023 as part of a months-long investigation into nearly $1 billion in questionable pork barrel spending added to the state budget by the then-Republican led legislature and signed into law by the Democratic governor.

At the time, then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth (R-Farwell) denied he sponsored the Global Link grant despite the State Budget Office naming him as the legislative sponsor. Both Beydoun and Hussein — a political donor to Republicans and Democrats who set up Beydoun’s meeting with Wentworth — argued Wentworth sponsored the grant.

Fay Beydoun. Photo: Imad Muhammed

Beydoun was the executive director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce when she lobbied Wentworth for the money for a startup business that she didn’t formally incorporate with the state until 10 days after the passage of the spending bill containing $20 million for the new entity.

At the time, the chamber had asked Beydoun to approach the state for potential funding for an international business accelerator program, Chebbani said. Instead, Beydoun won the grant for a yet-to-be-formed business accelerator registered to her home address in Farmington Hills.

The chamber’s board didn’t learn of Beydoun’s success in getting the grant until The News’ story raised questions about it in March 2023, Chebbani said. Since then, he said, the chamber has “been searching for answers” but received no clarification from the Whitmer administration.

“The board was confused that an individual who worked for our organization had submitted her own grant independently,” Chebbani said. “The state has not replied to tell us what went down and how the process came about.”

Beydoun finalized a grant agreement with the state days before The News reported in March 2023 on the funding and its mystery sponsor; she got the first $10 million installment a couple weeks later on April 3, according to a statement she submitted to the state. Shortly after receiving the money, Beydoun left her position at the American Arab Chamber of Commerce.

“When her funding was approved, she just walked away,” Chebbani told The News.

Beydoun had met with “ministers” in Saudi Arabia in late February 2023 to discuss potential partnerships with Global Link International and had been interviewing attorneys and certified public accountants for the company while still employed at the chamber, according to a report submitted to the state.

Beydoun held her first board meeting in June 2023, she told the state. It’s not yet clear who is on the Global Link board; that information will eventually be disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service, but Beydoun would not list its membership for The News, claiming she fears they would be subject to “harassment.”

Beydoun said she told Chebbani she was leaving the chamber “very early on in the legislative process.” She said Global Link was meant to reach further than the chamber’s goals and would assist more than just Arab business owners. She argued both Chebbani and Hussein expected her to act as a “mercenary” in obtaining state money that would benefit them.

“To instruct me to go get them money from the state just wasn’t the way my job was designed, and it wasn’t the way I could continue to operate,” Beydoun said Tuesday.

Last month, the MEDC said it was unaware of any dispute between Beydoun and the American Arab Chamber of Commerce regarding the grant.

— This article originally appeared in the Detroit News. It has been edited for length and style.