Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has opened an investigation into a $20 million grant awarded to a Metro Detroit businesswoman used on expenses that included a $4,500 coffee maker, an $11,000 first-class plane ticket and $408,000 in salaries for two people over three months.

Nessel’s office confirmed Wednesday it had opened an investigation into the grant given to Fay Beydoun for a nonprofit incorporated 10 days after the passage of the spending bill containing the earmarked funds. The office declined to provide further information, including what prompted its interest in the issue.

“Due to the ongoing nature, we cannot comment further,” said Kim Bush, a spokeswoman for Nessel’s office.

Beydoun — a frequent Democratic donor who contributed $750 to Nessel’s campaign between 2021 and 2022 — did not immediately respond to a text message from the Detroit News on Thursday seeking comment.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which administers legislative grants like Beydoun’s, did not immediately comment on the investigation. Earlier this month, the MEDC said it receives quarterly reports from grantees on their spending, but does not conduct an official audit of expenses until the first half of the grant is spent. In Beydoun’s case, that would mean an audit would be conducted after she’d spent $10 million.

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

In July 2022, the legislature included a $20 million grant in the annual budget that went toward a nonprofit business incubator called Global Link International. The nonprofit was incorporated by Beydoun with the state 10 days after the passage of the budget.

At the time, she was executive director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce and an appointee to the executive committee of the MEDC.

Beydoun, former vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, has been a frequent Democratic donor over the years to Gov. Whitmer, the Michigan Democratic Party, President Biden’s re-election campaign, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s U.S. Senate campaign and former State Sen. Curtis Hertel’s congressional campaign.

The Slotkin Senate campaign parted ways with Beydoun, an unpaid finance co-chair, two days after the Detroit News first reported on how she was spending the taxpayer money.

Beydoun’s position on the MEDC executive committee expired April 5.

Whitmer has not yet announced appointments to fill Beydoun’s vacancy on the executive committee, so it’s unclear whether she will be reappointed to the oversight position. She was appointed to the executive committee shortly after Whitmer took office in 2019; she was reappointed in 2020 for a four-year term.

Among the disputes related to the grant are who actually sponsored it. Former Republican House Speaker Jason Wentworth denied he was the sponsor, but the State Budget Office, Beydoun and political donor Sharif Hussein maintained he was.

The start of the investigation marks the second grant linked to Wentworth in the 2022 budget that is now under investigation by the attorney general. Late last year, Nessel began an investigation into a grant Wentworth secured that would provide $25 million for a community health and recreation center in Clare. That grant involved David Coker Jr., a former legislative aide to Wentworth.

— The Detroit News. Edited for style.