LANSING, Michigan — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s lawyer filed paperwork to form a company he says is meant to manage her family’s personal wealth, four days after the Michigan Legislature signed off on the hotly debated details of a personal financial disclosure law for state officeholders.

The Democratic governor disclosed her ownership interest in Super Deluxe LLC in her first report submitted under the new law, along with more than $2.3 million in investment and retirement assets. Whitmer will also use the entity to manage expenses and profits related to her upcoming book, her lawyer Christopher Trebilcock said.

The limited liability company, which filed paperwork with the state Nov. 13, is meant to serve as the “governor’s family office to manage her personal matters,” Trebilcock said. He is listed as the company’s resident agent and also works as a lawyer for Whitmer’s campaign arm.

The LLC is registered to the address of Trebilcock’s law firm, Clark Hill. A family office typically serves very high net-worth individuals and families in managing their wealth — from estate planning to tax services to the management of homes, planes, boats or cars.

Under Michigan's disclosure law, Whitmer didn't have to report the value of Super Deluxe or what the company's dealings were. She just disclosed that she was a member of it with an ownership interest.

Whitmer's upcoming book from Simon & Schuster, "True Gretch," was contracted through Super Deluxe because it is a "personal project," Trebilcock said. Any profits will be used to pay expenses related to the publication and the rest given to a Lansing-area nonprofit.

"The governor is proud to donate the proceeds from the publishing of 'True Gretch' to the Capital Region Community Foundation trough Super Deluxe LLC throughout the entirety of her term as governor," Trebilcock said.

Whitmer hasn't said how much her book deal is worth. Other public officeholders have made hundreds of thousands of dollars off similar projects. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was paid about $5 million for his 2020 memoir titled "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic," according to media reports.

Pete Hoekstra, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, has previously called on Whitmer's administration to release the terms of her book deal.

The governor's interest in the LLC was reported in a filing Monday, the deadline for Michigan’s inaugural round of mandatory personal financial disclosure reporting. While the formation of the Super Deluxe was new, her investment and stock interests had been disclosed in prior voluntary reports from the governor, with Monday's investment total reflecting a slight increase from last year's voluntary disclosure.

Voters in 2022 approved a ballot measure 66%-34% that expanded term limits in the state House and Senate and required lawmakers and the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state — as well as candidates for those offices — to file financial disclosures.

The nuts and bolts of what information would need to be included in the personal financial disclosures was largely left to lawmakers, who were able to narrowly pass statutory language implementing the disclosures amid pushback that the requirements didn’t shed enough light on lawmakers' finances and potential conflicts that may arise from those interests. The legislation exempted the income and assets of spouses after Whitmer expressed reservations about requiring such public disclosures.

The Legislature signed off on the bills implementing the financial disclosure requirement Nov. 9; Whitmer signed the bills into law Dec. 8.

The first round of disclosures filed Monday saw significant differences in the level of detail each official provided, some opting to provide more information than was required and others offering only those details mandated by law.

Whitmer's report

Whitmer reported more than $2.3 million in the value of her investment and stock accounts in addition to her roughly $159,000 annual salary as governor. Among the $2.3 million in investments, stocks and securities, Whitmer disclosed more than $1 million in Admiral shares in Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund.

Whitmer’s financial reporting, in some ways, went beyond what was required of officials; she disclosed actual dollar amounts while many state lawmakers reported the existence of retirement or investment funds without detailing how much they were worth.

Whitmer reported the formation of Super Deluxe LLC under a portion of the reporting document requiring officials to disclose “positions in organizations.”

The governor has previously said that "super deluxe" was a saying used by her her late mother, Sharon.

Business incorporation papers list Trebilcock as the resident agent and attorney J. Thomas MacFarlane as the organizer.

MacFarlane specializes in estates and trusts at Clark Hill, according to the firm’s website, and aiding clients “for the efficient transition of their wealth.”

The paperwork was filed with the state Nov. 13 and accepted Nov. 15.

Family offices generally function as asset management firms, but are tailored to an individual or family with a very high net worth, said Rob Grimaldi, chief operating officer of the family office at New York-based Viscogliosi Brothers LLC.

A family office is typically staffed with individuals who help with estate planning, tax services, charitable giving, or the management of boats, planes or homes, said Grimaldi, a Michigan resident who's worked with family offices for the past two decades. They also can provide "lifestyle management," scheduling flights or booking hotels, he said.

Family offices in Michigan include those involving the Ford family, the Ilitches and Dan and Jennifer Gilbert. The industry standard for a family office usually involves individuals or families with a threshold net worth starting at between $100 million and $150 million, Grimaldi said. It's possible, however, that someone could start a family office with less if they expected their wealth to grow in the near future.

"There’s no minimum stated," Grimaldi said. "I could start a family office with zero assets, but if you’re going to have any level of staff or activity of any kind, you’re going to have to pay for that. It needs to be cost effective”

Whitmer also reported, among her assets, full ownership of her summer home in Elk Rapids, which is valued at about $418,200. Whitmer does not pay to live at the governor’s residence in Lansing or for use of the governor's home on Mackinac Island.

Gilchrist, Benson, Nessel report

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist also disclosed the dollar amounts of his stock and retirement accounts for a total of about $435,000. He disclosed his home in Corktown was valued at about $1.1 million; Crain’s Detroit Business reported the fifth-floor penthouse was on the market last year with an asking price of about $1.9 million.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson initially filed her disclosure without dollar amounts — which is all that’s required under current law — but updated the filing later in the day with more detailed information. Benson had previously disclosed her finances voluntarily in 2019.

Benson disclosed her role as director for Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), her ownership of her Detroit home worth about $500,000 and a couple of 401(k) retirement accounts worth about $590,000. Benson also disclosed she remains a tenured professor at Wayne State Law School, where she took an unpaid leave of absence in 2019.

She also disclosed about $100,000 in savings accounts she holds jointly with her husband, Ryan Friedrichs, a lobbyist for Related Companies, the real estate development firm of New York billionaire Stephen Ross, who founded RISE.

Attorney General Dana Nessel disclosed ownership of her Plymouth home and a couple of retirement and investment accounts, without listing dollar amounts regarding the mortgage or the value of her 401(k) account.

While Nessel has not previously made a voluntary release of her finances in the same way as Whitmer and Benson, her office said she released some financial information upon request of media outlets during her 2018 campaign.

_____

©2024 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.