LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — A taxpayer-funded embarrassment is unfolding for Governor Gretchen Whitmer after court records revealed her chief of staff personally apologized to the American Arab Chamber of Commerce when a $20 million state grant meant for its project wound up with the governor’s political ally instead.

Chief of Staff JoAnne Huls visited the chamber’s Dearborn headquarters in 2023 to apologize after learning the funds had been directed to Global Link International—a nonprofit launched days earlier by Fay Beydoun, a Whitmer donor and former chamber director, The Detroit News reported.

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Attorney General Dana Nessel has since frozen Global Link’s accounts while investigators probe how millions in public dollars slipped into private hands. Search warrants were executed in June at both Beydoun’s home and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), which approved the grant.

Recently, however, Whitmer told reporters she was “surprised” to learn the chamber did not receive the funds and says she wants the attorney general to sue to get the money back.  “It’s long overdue,” Whitmer said on October 8.

Records show Beydoun told an associate she “directed the grant to herself because ‘she needed to make money,’” and filings indicate she paid herself more than $500,000 from the award. The MEDC has since demanded $8.2 million be repaid, but Whitmer maintains the agency has limited authority to enforce repayment—despite state budget language outlining oversight provisions.

Twenty million dollars later, the only thing moving fast is the fallout—leaving taxpayers waiting for answers and officials trading apologies.