Dr. Bradley Foerster and Dr. Myria Petrou Ask Prosecutor Eli Savit, AG Dana Nessel and Governor Gretchen Whitmer to Help Resolve NIH R01 Grant Finances, Ann Arbor Police Department and University of Michigan Records Questions

On September 27, 2026, Dr. Bradley Foerster and Dr. Myria Petrou asked Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer for assistance with unresolved records and financial questions involving the University of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Police Department, and NIH Grant R01NS082304.

The correspondence forwards Dr. Petrou’s September 26 email to University of Michigan neurologist Dr. Eva Feldman concerning the NIH R01 grant finances. That correspondence and the underlying NIH financial records are documented separately in Dr. Myria Petrou Asks Dr. Eva Feldman About NIH R01 Grant Charges During IRB Suspension — NIH Records Document $347,636 in Disbursements .

The September 27 email takes the next step.

Rather than focusing only on the unresolved NIH R01 grant finances, the correspondence puts those records alongside several other matters in which the same three people repeatedly appear.

Before the Investigations, There Was the NIH R01 Grant

There is another part of this history that can be obscured by the later investigative records.

Duaa Altaee, Dr. Petrou, and Dr. Foerster were not originally connected because all three were subjects of allegations. Their relationship included work surrounding NIH Grant R01NS082304.

Duaa Altaee’s sexual-harassment and retaliation concerns arose in the context of the NIH R01 grant work.

Dr. Petrou was a witness and support person for Duaa Altaee during the University’s OIE/Title IX process and accompanied Duaa Altaee to meetings concerning those allegations and their handling.

The University has nevertheless continued to take the position that Dr. Petrou did not engage in protected activity.

That earlier history presents a very different picture from the later investigative records: Dr. Petrou was supporting Duaa Altaee through the University’s OIE/Title IX process.

The September 27 correspondence does not claim that these different events had a common origin.

It asks why the same three people repeatedly appear together across them.

Different Complaints, the Same Three People

Duaa Altaee, Dr. Myria Petrou, and Dr. Bradley Foerster appear together in a series of allegations and investigations that arose from very different events.

In the Ann Arbor matter, Maria Petrou included Duaa Altaee in allegations to Adult Protective Services concerning allegedly missing family funds. Maria and Petros Petrou are Dr. Petrou’s parents, and the underlying matter arose from a family dispute between Dr. Petrou and her mother.

Maria and Petros Petrou subsequently filed a complaint with the Ann Arbor Police Department concerning Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster.

The AAPD investigation resulted in numerous search warrants involving Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster’s bank accounts, which remained frozen for more than a year. A year later, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office concluded that the investigation lacked probable cause and characterized the underlying dispute as a “clearly civil matter.”

During the period in which the accounts were frozen, Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster’s Ann Arbor properties went into foreclosure and ultimately to sheriff’s sale.

Then came the 2017 HHS-OIG complaint.

The complaint was submitted under Dr. Petrou’s name and alleged medical-billing misconduct in the University of Michigan Department of Radiology, specifically raising concerns involving Dr. Ella Kazerooni.

Dr. Petrou did not submit the complaint.

NIH Grant R01NS082304 was also referenced in it. The HHS-OIG and associated FBI investigation that followed came to focus substantially on Duaa Altaee’s research effort on the NIH R01 grant.

The FBI records added another dimension.

Years later, FBI releases revealed that Dr. Foerster and Dr. Petrou had been named in federal debarment discussions concerning the NIH R01 grant. A third name remains redacted. The same FBI record states that the U.S. Attorney declined to bring criminal charges in the matter.

The same federal records document financial action involving Duaa Altaee’s NIH R01 grant salary and effort, including the removal and return of associated grant costs.

Dr. Petrou was a non-funded co-investigator on the NIH R01 grant.

Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster did not know at the time about the criminal referrals, debarment discussions, or financial action involving Duaa Altaee’s NIH R01 grant effort.

Later records searches added another unresolved layer: HHS-OIG has reported no responsive records concerning the requested debarment process involving Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office identified in FBI records as having declined criminal prosecution has twice reported no responsive records.

These were different allegations and investigations arising at different times and from different events.

Yet all three names repeatedly reappear.

The NIH R01 Financial Records Add Another Layer

The most recent records concern the NIH R01 grant finances themselves.

NIH records document $347,636.29 in FY2017 award disbursements. Dr. Petrou’s September 26 email to Dr. Feldman asks what expenses were being charged to the NIH R01 grant while its associated research was suspended by the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board and later terminated, and what work those charges supported.

The full financial chronology and primary records are documented in the September 26, 2026 post.

What matters for the September 27 outreach is that the new financial records have now been placed alongside the FBI, HHS-OIG, Ann Arbor Police, OIE/Title IX, and University records already obtained.

Thomas Kent and the Missing AAPD Records

The earlier investigation also involved then-Ann Arbor City Attorney Thomas Kent, who stated in open court that he had seen what he described as a “damning affidavit” and expressed confidence that charges would result.

Kent was communicating with the University concerning Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster during this period and was shortly afterward hired by the University of Michigan Office of General Counsel.

The University has still not completed production on FOIA 260085, despite collecting more than $700 in deposits for Kent’s file on Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster. According to the September 27 correspondence, the City has reported that it does not possess the file or “damning affidavit” being sought.

The 2025 Bank of Ann Arbor Sheriff-Sale Accounting

The financial consequences did not end with the sheriff’s sales.

In 2025, Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster identified what they believe is a discrepancy of more than $100,000 in the Bank of Ann Arbor ledger concerning approximately $1.4 million in total sheriff-sale proceeds.

They asked the Bank for a complete accounting and sought assistance from the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office and Michigan Attorney General’s Office.

When those requests did not result in an investigation, Dr. Foerster filed a complaint with the Ann Arbor Police Department—the same department whose earlier criminal investigation had resulted in Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster’s bank accounts being frozen for more than a year.

Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster provided written authorization permitting both Ann Arbor Police and the Bank of Ann Arbor to access their financial records so the proceeds could be reconciled.

The Ann Arbor Police did not obtain the Bank records necessary to reconcile the proceeds.

The accounting remains unresolved.

University Records Remain Withheld

The September 27 correspondence also identifies several outstanding University of Michigan FOIA matters, including requests concerning the reported “Shonda” investigation, Thomas Kent, and possible retrospective adjustments or clawbacks involving Dr. Petrou’s salary.

One additional request stands apart.

In FOIA 261437, Dr. Petrou specifically requested FBI-generated records concerning Dr. Petrou and/or Dr. Foerster that came into the University’s possession after September 20, 2019, expressly excluding University-generated communications, summaries, and analyses.

The University reported locating one responsive FBI-generated record but withheld it entirely under Michigan FOIA §13(1)(m).

Its contents remain unknown.

The September 27 correspondence asks a straightforward question about that record:

What final University policy or action was that FBI-generated communication preliminary to?

Three Officials, Specific Requests

The September 27 email ultimately asks the three Michigan officials to take specific steps rather than adopt a particular interpretation of the larger history.

Prosecutor Eli Savit is asked to help obtain a substantive response from Dr. Feldman concerning the NIH R01 grant finances and to reconsider the unresolved 2025 Bank of Ann Arbor sheriff-sale accounting.

Attorney General Dana Nessel is asked to have the Michigan State Police review the basis and documentation for the earlier Ann Arbor Police investigation and to reconsider the sheriff-sale accounting issue.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is asked to help bring several University of Michigan FOIA requests to resolution, including the acknowledged but withheld FBI-generated record.

The September 27 correspondence does not resolve why Duaa Altaee, Myria Petrou, and Bradley Foerster repeatedly appear together across these otherwise different matters.

It puts that question—and the underlying records—before officials with the ability to seek answers.

The request ends with a narrower objective than the history might initially suggest:

“We are asking for the records, the accounting, and answers to questions that should be capable of resolution.”

The forwarded emails show how long these questions have remained unresolved. In September 2020, Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster asked Dana Habers how NIH grant disbursements had continued after the University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) suspended and later terminated the associated studies, and whether Dr. Petrou’s ALSA study IRB had been used without Dr. Petrou’s knowledge. Six years later, Dr. Petrou returned to those questions in the September 26 email to Dr. Eva Feldman, now with additional financial and investigative records. The following day, Dr. Petrou and Dr. Foerster asked Prosecutor Savit, Attorney General Nessel, and Governor Whitmer to help obtain answers.

September 27, 2026 — Dr. Bradley Foerster and Dr. Myria Petrou Request Assistance from Prosecutor Eli Savit, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer

No response to the September 27, 2026 request appears in the available record.

HHS-OIG Case 5-17-0-0192-4 Documentary Chronology
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Brad Foerster, MD PhD

Brad Foerster is a FOIA advocate documenting requests, transparency disputes, and accountability investigations involving public agencies, universities, police oversight, and Russia-Gate related inquiries. His work compiles original documents, timelines, and analysis of public records and institutional responses. Brad is also a board-certified radiologist, author of Town & Gown, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Brad lives in Potomac, Maryland with his family and is a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Takoma Park U.S. & World History Book Club.