A nonexistent apartment, expensive rugs, and zero businesses attracted: inside Michigan's $20M grant disaster

Felony charges against a metro Detroit businesswoman who received a $20 million economic development grant have brought intense scrutiny to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the way officials disburse hundreds of millions of public dollars.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on May 6 charged Fay Beydoun, 62, of Farmington Hills, with 16 felonies related to her handling of a $20 million earmark. Beydoun doesn’t appear to have brought one business into being with the funds, though that was the intended purpose. But she paid herself a $550,000 salary, bought expensive rugs, spent $10,000 on legal fees for her son’s dispute with an insurer, obtained reimbursements for an apartment that didn’t exist, and purchased a $4,500 coffeemaker.

Beydoun’s alleged theft and misuse of taxpayer funds came through Global Link International, a company she controlled, according to The Detroit News, which reported on this scandal in detail after obtaining official records under the Freedom of Information Act. She billed $40,800 for two apartments, one of which was apparently a vacant lot at 6142 Appoline in Dearborn. Beydoun also submitted invoices for a $6,149 trip to Tunisia and spent $5,557 at a home lighting store in Redford, according to the affidavit obtained by the News.

Beydoun allegedly lied to the MEDC about expenses that were meant to boost Michigan’s economic development. Lisa Katz, a whistleblower who was one of two of Global Link’s employees, told investigators that Global Link wasn’t talking with country advisors, had no database of companies, did not focus on any region and had no relationships with international entities.

Beydoun has been charged in the 47th District Court in Farmington Hills, a steep fall from her position in the top ranks of Michigan’s corporate welfare apparatus. In 2019, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed Beydoun to the MEDC Executive Committee.

“Since the enactment of the Global Link grant, some significant reforms have been enacted by the Legislature,” Nessel said in a press release announcing the charges. “These reforms are meaningful, but with millions of dollars in public funding at hand, the state and each of its agencies must do more to prevent abuses of state funds and to require responsible administration of enhancement grants — regardless of whether their recipients enjoy positions of power, privilege, and political connections.”

In a press conference, Nessel urged lawmakers to pause further appropriations to the MEDC pending significant changes.

“The MEDC absolutely needs better guardrails, better policies and better protocols. And I think it is irresponsible to continue to appropriate more money through the MEDC until or unless you can be sure those guardrails are in place,” the attorney general said.

The governor agrees, according to a statement her press secretary gave WILX-TV.

“The legislature needs to continue to work to improve their appropriations process to ensure that every penny of taxpayer dollars spent is used appropriately,” Stacey LaRouche wrote in the statement.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation also supports reform, according to a statement provided to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

“The MEDC remains supportive of improving policies and procedures, including the new earmark rules adopted by the Legislature in the wake of the Beydoun investigation, as well as identifying additional opportunities for improvement to those who are open to such conversations,” the corporation wrote.

More than a dozen lawmakers introduced House bills 5411-5418 in 2025, which would address how the Michigan Strategic Fund and related programs approve, monitor and report on incentive deals.

The bills could help reform the MEDC if they were to become law, according to James Hohman, the director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

“It’s unfortunate that there needs to be legislation,” Hohman told CapCon in an email. “There’s no legal requirement that the MEDC puts out press releases when they announce subsidy deals, for instance. The governor can voluntarily report when job deals fail and post deals before they are approved. But legislators can also mandate these disclosures and more.”