Lansing — The chief executive of Michigan's economic development arm is getting his own legal counsel, funded by taxpayers, while seeking to shield some of his cell phone records from an embezzlement investigation into a $20 million grant administered by the agency.

Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO Quentin Messer hired law firm Dykema Gossett to represent him, according to court filings, shortly after returning from an investment trip in Australia. It was during that investment trip that Attorney General Dana Nessel's office, on June 18, raided the MEDC with a search warrant that sought a variety of records related to the Global Link International grant, including Messer's cell phone.

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