- The committee in charge of Michigan’s billions in economic development didn’t follow its own rules on conflict of interest statements
- Fewer than half of required conflict of interest forms were filed from 2019-2022, documents obtained by Bridge show
- The omissions largely ceased after heightened agency scrutiny and a criminal investigation involving administration of a grant
Members of the board in charge of Michigan’s billion-dollar economic development strategy skipped filing just over half of their required annual conflict of interest certification documents from 2019 to 2022.
Records obtained by Bridge Michigan through a Freedom of Information Act request show the omissions peaked in 2022, when just four of 18 members on the Michigan Economic Development Corp. executive committee signed the documents — all of them in March, two months after they were due.
Among them: Fay Beydoun, a metro Detroit businesswoman now under investigation for potential embezzlement from a $20 million budget earmark lawmakers awarded her that year through the MEDC.
The conflict of interest omissions show how the board — all gubernatorial appointees charged with overall management of the MEDC — failed for years to follow their own internal rules when it came to acknowledging the expectation of avoiding “the appearance of impropriety.”
Bridge requested all signed conflict of interest forms submitted by MEDC executive committee members from January 2019 through mid-2025.
The request was made after July statements by MEDC CEO Quentin Messer Jr. about whether the state needs more separation between the executive committee, MEDC staff or the Legislature when it comes to funding requests.
Related:
- MEDC chief: ‘I was not aware’ of $20M state business grant caught in probe
- Records: Businesswoman hosted Whitmer fundraiser while seeking $20M earmark
- Whitmer breaks silence on $20M earmark probe, says she’s ‘very troubled’ by allegations
Weeks earlier, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office had raided the MEDC offices as part of its investigation of the $20 million grant linked to Beydoun, a former executive committee member who created a business accelerator Global Link International that received the funding.
Messer said his staff administered the 2022 grant — issued before Beydoun had registered Global Link as a nonprofit organization — based on lawmaker directives.
But the award scrutiny, prompted by coverage in the Detroit News, raised concerns about influence among the MEDC, the committee directing its policies and lawmakers fulfilling earmark requests.
Beydoun has raised funds for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and hosted a fundraiser for the Democratic official around the same time she claimed the governor was helping secure funding for the ill-fated project.
Whitmer, who is on a trade mission to Singapore and Japan this week with Messer and other MEDC officials, has said she’s “very troubled” by the allegations Beydoun may have misused state funds.
When it comes to more separation over questions of conflict, “volunteer members of the MEDC executive committee prepare and sign a conflict of interest, and they will continue to do so and voluntarily do so, so it’s not a relevant issue for me,” Messer told reporters in July.
The forms “are provided to all members of the executive committee,” said Messer, who became MEDC CEO in May 2021.
He added: “They’re required by people who serve.”
But while rules required committee members to return a signed conflict of interest form every year, compliance was spotty under the Whitmer administration until 2023 when — for the first time since 2019 — some committee members met the January deadline.
The executive committee
The executive committee’s code of conduct and ethics is a three-page document, outlining expectations for the body that maintains overall management and control of the MEDC.
Michigan’s governor appoints all 20 members, according to the group’s website, though there have been gaps in that number over time as terms expire and appointments are made. The current board includes appointees of both Whitmer and former Gov. Rick Snyder.
Among other things, the committee manages the MEDC’s corporate budget, which totaled $94 million in 2025. The committee does not vote on business incentive awards, but Messer, as CEO of the MEDC, does as chair of the Michigan Strategic Fund.
The committee’s three-page code of conduct and ethics outlines the expectation for the “highest standards of integrity.”
“Self-interest and partiality have no place in decision-making for the public good,” according to the code.
It continues: “Members shall not take official action or use their official position in any manner which will result in a profit or benefit.”
Otie McKinley, spokesperson for the MEDC, told Bridge that “all MEDC Executive Committee members are expected to disclose real or perceived conflicts of interest or financial ties related to any business before that body.”
None have been reported since 2019, he said.
From 2019 through 2022, just 37 of the 78 expected conflict of interest forms had been returned at all. That includes 2022, when Beydoun’s grant was awarded and the MEDC took over administration of the new $2 billion Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund.
Compliance over the conflict of interest form improved starting in 2023, corresponding to news reports starting to examine the Beydoun grant and other earmarks not associated with committee members, including at least one award not connected to the MEDC that resulted in criminal charges.
From 2023 through this year, members returned and signed 95% of the required forms. The only ones missing: Flint Mayor Sheldon Neely in 2023, and Bob Sutherland, president of Cherry Republic, in 2024 after he was appointed in April to fill the seat following Beydoun’s resignation.
Of the nearly 40 members who have sat on the executive committee since 2019, more than half missed filing at least one form, according to the Bridge investigation. Bobby Hopewell, a former Kalamazoo mayor and health system administrator, and Mike McLauchlan, vice president of Government Affairs for Ilitch Holdings, missed four required filings.
Four committee members skipped filing three forms during their tenure, including Beydoun in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
McKinley, the MEDC spokesperson, said despite the annual requirement, there is “no expiration date” on the executive committee’s conflict of interest expectations.
“Any signed form remains in force, and members have an obligation to act ethically, disclose any known or potential conflicts.”
A sign of trouble?
The missing documentation among the MEDC leadership occurred as the state created the SOAR fund to boost business incentives — and as the MEDC faced increasing scrutiny, including oversight of policy and procedures.
Michigan’s auditor general found in 2023 that the strategic fund operation of MEDC could not identify the amount of an outstanding debt.
And in 2024, the auditor general said the MEDC did not have internal control over a $10 million grant payment. According to the audit, the MEDC verbally authorized payment.
MEDC funding for the 2026 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, remains in flux.
Bipartisan leaders have called for economic development reform, and the Republican-led House recently recommended budget cuts even as Whitmer presses for continued support of high-dollar subsidies.
State Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, is among lawmakers critical of MEDC. He initiated legislation to break apart the agency, saying it funnels billions of dollars to businesses without enough accountability.
“This appears to be another example of problematic administration by the MEDC,” Albert told Bridge of the conflict of interest gaps. “Issues like this are why I am working on legislation to responsibly dismantle the MEDC.”
Attorney General Dana Nessel, speaking recently on WDIV-TV’s “Flashpoint,” called findings from her office’s investigation of the Beydoun grant — which included examination of the MEDC and its operations — “deeply troubling.”
Nessel continues to maintain “the MEDC lacks necessary oversight protocols that she would expect to see from an agency managing such a significant sum of state tax dollars,” spokesperson Danny Wimmer told Bridge.
She is expected to share organizational recommendations when the investigation is fully resolved, Wimmer added.
Messer, the MEDC CEO, in July did not respond to Bridge’s question about whether the agency has changed internal accountability and operational practices as a result of the Global Link International grant to a member of the committee that, among other duties, hires the CEO.
“We’re always in the process of continuous improvement,” Messer said.
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