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Fay Beydoun (State of Mich. photo)
Metro Detroit businesswoman Fay Beydoun, a former appointee of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, faces 16 criminal counts involving the way she spent and documented expenses related to a $20 million state taxpayer-funded grant meant to establish a business accelerator, the Detroit News reports.
At the time of the alleged improprieties, Beydoun was working as the director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce and was a Whitmer appointee on the governing board of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which was tasked by the Legislature with administering the Global Link grant, The News reports.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office wrote in an affidavit that the charges, filed in 47th District Court in Farmington Hills, include larceny by conversion, uttering and publishing, and conducting a criminal enterprise.
"Instead of using those funds for the legally intended purpose of establishing an international business accelerator, Beydoun used them to pay for personal expenses, and then lied when reporting on how she used the funds," Special Agent Kyle Kolka wrote in the affidavit, according to The News.
Some expenses included a $4,500 coffeemaker and an $11,000 first-class ticket to Budapest.
Her attorney, Todd Flood, did not respond to The News for comment.
