(FARMINGTON HILLS) – A judge on Tuesday agreed with the Attorney General’s use of a taint team to review documents seized during a raid on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).
District Court Judge James Brady gave MEDC – the state’s quasi-government economic development agency – until July 11 to decide whether to appeal his decision.
If not, the AG’s taint team – a team of different attorneys – has one week to review and log the documents seized during the June 18 raid to determine what, if any, information is shielded by attorney-client privilege.
Gerald Gleeson II, an Oakland County criminal law attorney hired to represent some MEDC personnel, will have one week to review the names and make possible objections.
“I doubt you will, but if you do … get me on the phone, we’ll talk about it and make a decision at that point in time,” Brady said, telling the AG’s office “nothing is dispensed or dispersed to your team until Mr. Gleeson’s had a chance to go over everything.”
Brady told both Gleeson and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Payok: “Don’t take this (personally), but I hope I don’t see you back here for a while.”
The AG’s office executed search warrants at the MEDC’s downtown Lansing headquarters, but they declined to say why.
New court filings revealed the search warrant is related to the AG’s investigation of Global Link International and chief executive officer Fay Beydoun’s use of a $20 million state-issued grant.
According to the court filings, Nessel’s office sought access to documentation, cellphones, electronics and computer records of MEDC CEO Quentin Messer. The probe includes Beydoun’s communications with undisclosed members of Gov. Whitmer’s inner circle.
MEDC’s Move
Gleeson wanted the judge to quash the AG’s search warrant, and force the return of materials the MEDC believes are confidential under attorney-client privilege.
The AG’s response to Gleeson’s motion to quash the search warrant accused the MEDC of stonewalling the investigation, and it includes excerpts from a transcript of a recording device worn by a special agent during the raid.
MEDC’s attorney, Linda Asciutto, is quoted as saying: “You know me, I’d rather just get arrested. I would, I don’t care. This is ridiculous. And Matt Payok from the AG’s office is going to pay for this.”
Gleeson said Ascuitto is a witness, not a target of the AG’s investigation, and Payok described the agency as a non-cooperative third party.
Payok argued that the MEDC has claimed it had “no involvement” in the grant process or establishment.
“We know for a fact that that is not true,” Payok said, reporting that there was a series of meetings in summer 2021 where Beydoun talked to her business partner about needing to seek MEDC approval ahead of the grant’s creation.
Payok said a 2024 news article reported Beydoun’s expenditures, including a $4,500 coffee maker, an $11,000 first-class plane ticket and two individuals receiving $408,000 salaries over three months.
“Someone at MEDC said that’s an OK use of state dollars, that somehow furthers the point of having international business help,” Payok said. “There are a ton of other expenses someone at MEDC was rubber-stamping.”
However, when the AG’s office inquired about who gave the OK, “we were stumbled” and “we were never offered a meeting with anybody but a lawyer,” he said.
Payok expressed skepticism about what the MEDC was willing to share, noting that three of the five bankers’ boxes of documents allegedly contained attorney-client privileged material.
Payok said he couldn’t in good conscience send what was seized back so that Gleeson could create his own log, which is what Gleeson and the MEDC wanted on Tuesday.
“I don’t fear – it’s not fear, your honor,” Gleeson said when asked about his concerns around an AG-selected taint team. “It’s our privilege, and as far as I read the case law, it says the judiciary determines what’s provided and what’s not, not the Attorney General.”
Overall, Gleeson said just because the AG walked in and seized documents, that “doesn’t put them first in line.”
What Investigators Wanted
According to the search warrant, the AG’s office wanted evidence of potential felony embezzlement.
Specifically, investigators wanted digital or paper documents related to Beydoun or Global Link and any MEDC-owned or issued electronic devices, including cellphones and laptops used by Messer.
The court filings also hint that evidence may include emails between Beydoun and Tricia Foster, Whitmer’s chief operating officer.
The Michigan Forward Network, which is financially backed by West Michigan’s wealthy DeVos family and led by past Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, issued a press release describing Tuesday’s hearing as a legal battle over a raid, prompting Whitmer’s top staffers to hire criminal defense attorneys.
“For years, we’ve seen Lansing Democrats use our tax dollars to pick winners and losers. Democrats directed dollars to big corporations, progressive special interest groups, and political allies like Fay Beydoun,” said Zach Rudat, the Michigan Forward Network’s spokesperson. “The fact that this grant prompted an investigation from weak-on-crime Dana Nessel in the first place, and drove Whitmer’s team to lawyer up, speaks volumes to how broken Lansing has become on Democrats’ watch and the necessity for change.”
Article courtesy MIRS News for SBAM’s Lansing Watchdog newsletter
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