Lansing — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer approved a $20 million grant benefiting one of her campaign donors, and a prominent businessman tied to the project told the House speaker there will be “no negotiations” about it, according to a text message released in court records Wednesday.
That revelation, along with others about the Whitmer administration’s handling of the 2022 state taxpayer funding awarded to Fay Beydoun’s Global Link International, came in a 41-page affidavit from Kyle Kolka, a special agent in Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office.
Nessel’s team is bringing 16 criminal charges against Beydon for misusing the $20 million grant that was meant to establish a business accelerator, according to the court records released Wednesday.
The affidavit detailing the criminal charges against Beydoun cited an interview with Trevor Pawl, who previously worked in Whitmer’s administration as her chief mobility officer. Pawl said Beydoun’s initial pitch for the grant was “one of the worst concepts that I had ever, ever seen.”
“She was able to skip over the (Michigan Economic Development Corp.) to get what she wanted, then ultimately — now, I’m making assumptions — but ultimately come back and force their hand,” Pawl said, according to the affidavit.
An appointee of Whitmer, Beydoun was a member of the MEDC’s executive committee from 2019 and through part of 2024.
Whitmer, a Democrat who’s viewed by some as a future potential presidential candidate, is in her eighth and final year as Michigan’s governor. The court records released Wednesday drew direct connections between Whitmer’s executive office and the taxpayer money that was eventually provided to Beydoun.
But during a press conference in Lansing, Nessel, a fellow Democrat, said that just because someone steers a grant toward an individual doesn’t mean that person necessarily knows the money is going to be spent inappropriately.
Beydoun, who’s well-connected in the Democratic political world, served as a bundler for Whitmer’s campaign for governor, meaning she collected contributions from other donors, sources previously told The Detroit News.
She personally donated $7,150 to Whitmer’s campaign in 2019.
The Attorney General’s Office obtained a record that indicated Beydoun had a meeting planned with the Whitmer on Dec. 9, 2021, according to the affidavit. The office said investigators haven’t been able to confirm whether the meeting took place.
Beydoun’s “outline” for the meeting referenced a $25 million funding request and items Beydoun had “delivered,” according to the affidavit. Among the delivered items listed by Beydoun was “$330k first term” and working with MEDC CEO Quentin Messer Jr. on “establishing relationships with Republicans.”
It’s not clear from the document what the $330,000 references, but there’s a note saying “$200k now wi2th (sic) $100k in January.” Nessel said her office believes the $330,000 related to political fundraising.
Beydoun also listed Republican businessman John Rakolta with the name Tudor Dixon, who was Whitmer’s 2022 Republican opponent for governor. It wasn’t clear why Rakolta, a GOP political donor, was listed.
Rakolta later served as co-chair of Whitmer’s population commission. Rakolta didn’t immediately respond Wednesday morning to a text message seeking comment.
The Beydoun document listing Rakolta and Dixon also mentioned someone named Amanda. It wasn’t immediately clear who Amanda is, but Amanda Stitt was a campaign operative for Whitmer. Stitt didn’t respond immediately Wednesday to a text message seeking comment.
Beydoun’s outline ended with a reference to Whitmer’s chief operating officer Tricia Foster and her then-budget director, Chris Harkins.
“Need you to let Trish Foster and Chris Harkins know so that when they meet with the Republicans, there is no negotiations,” the outline said.
A spokeswoman for Whitmer didn’t immediately respond to a request about whether the Dec. 9, 2021, meeting took place.
Nessel said just because somebody said they just had a meeting with the governor, “doesn’t mean they had a meeting with the governor.”
Yet, a month later, businessman and prominent political donor Sharif Hussein texted then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, in January 2022, stating that the Global Link project “has been cleared by the governor” and that there would “be no negotiations on the line item and it will be understood that the agreement is in place to move forward.”
On Feb. 9, 2022, Messer sent an email to state officials, personally congratulating Beydoun for a $15 million program being included in Whitmer’s initial budget recommendation. The governor’s annual proposal kicks off budget negotiations with lawmakers in the Capitol.
The competitive grant program language that Whitmer initially proposed and the direct earmark she signed into law for Global Link International were somewhat different. However, they were similar enough to raise questions about what the governor’s office knew about the initiative Beydon advocated for.
Over the several months, between February 2022 and the budget vote on June 30, the competitive grant program morphed into a direct line-item appropriation for Beydoun’s Global Link International. Global Link was not officially created as a nonprofit with the state until 10 days after the Legislature passed the budget.
Last year, Whitmer did not answer directly when asked whether anyone on her team was involved in securing a controversial $20 million grant for Beydoun.
“I believe that it’s important for us to make sure that every dime of taxpayer dollars is not wasted, there’s no fraud, that we have real accountability,” Whitmer told reporters in the summer of 2025. “What you don’t see in my executive budgets are individual grants. And here’s why: Because I believe every dollar should be vetted and it should go through a bidding process.”
cmauger@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Whitmer administration entangled in criminal case against Beydoun
Reporting by Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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