The American Arab Chamber of Commerce has terminated its executive director, Bilal Hammoud, after discovering some of the organization’s funds couldn’t be accounted for, according to an Aug. 21 announcement.
The Dearborn-based organization revealed the development in a statement, saying it was now cooperating “with the appropriate authorities.” The matter has been referred by the chamber to Dearborn police, the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Two sources with knowledge of the situation who requested to speak on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity said the chamber was scrutinizing about $1 million in money from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. that had possibly been routed away from the organization.
The funds being investigated included money from the MEDC that was supposed to go to the chamber’s business incubator, Tejara, a third source said. A federal tax filing showed Tejara had $1.7 million in revenue in 2023 and $11,192 in revenue in 2024.
Ahmad Chebbani, chairman of the chamber’s board, said the group had fired Hammoud and retained a law firm to conduct an investigation “because the trust of our members, partners and the businesses we serve is the foundation of everything we do.”
“We are committed to getting this right and to being transparent with the community we serve,” Chebbani said in a statement.
Hammoud didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the MEDC declined to comment.
Attorney General Dana Nessel, responding to the news Friday, posted a short message on social media: “Abolish the MEDC.” Nessel has called for the agency’s funding to be halted before, after a separate probe into another taxpayer-funded grant administered by the MEDC.
Hammoud has been a somewhat prominent figure in Michigan politics. In 2025, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Hammoud to the Michigan Workforce Development Board. He previously worked as the public engagement director for the Michigan Department of State, and as project manager for Cheboygan, according to the governor’s 2025 announcement.
At the time of his appointment to the board, Hammoud served on the Wayne State University Alumni Board, the United Humanitarian Foundation and the Dearborn Heights Libraries Board.
The American Arab Chamber of Commerce, through Tejara, received $3.4 million from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Small Business Support Hubs program in 2023.
It wasn’t clear whether that money was being examined as part of the current investigation.
Hammoud’s termination comes almost four years after the chamber’s previous executive director, Fay Beydoun, obtained a $20 million grant for a business accelerator that had yet to exist in state business incorporation filings.
Beydoun’s nonprofit came under scrutiny because of the mysterious origins of the grant, her role as a Democratic fundraiser and gubernatorial appointee and her spending of the money on items such as a $4,500 coffeemaker and an $11,000 first-class ticket to Budapest. In May, Nessel’s office charged Beydoun with 16 counts related to her spending of the grant and how she reported expenses to the state.
Chebbani, at the time, maintained Beydoun, as the chamber’s executive director, was supposed to be pursuing a state grant for the chamber’s own business incubator, Tejara, in 2022. Instead, Beydoun won the $20 million grant for a yet-to-be-formed business accelerator registered to her home address in Farmington Hills.
“When her funding was approved, she just walked away,” Chebbani told The News in 2024.
During her agency’s investigation of the Beydoun grant last year, Nessel first called for a halt to funding for the MEDC, arguing the agency lacked proper oversight of state funds.
“Each day we learn new things about this agency that lead me to believe that, until there’s better oversight, perhaps they shouldn’t be receiving any state funds at all,” Nessel told WDIV’s Flashpoint in August 2025.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: American Arab Chamber fires its leader, cites missing funds
Reporting by Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
