Sen. Feinstein's Husband Cashes In on Crisis (Contractual Kickback )

Fox ^ | Tuesday, April 21, 2009

[Red Steel]

California senator sought $25 billion for a government agency that had awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties.

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms, the Washington Times reported on Tuesday.

Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct federal dollars.

Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) - the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman - had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.

About the same time of the contract award, Mr. Blum's private investment firm reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it and related affiliates had purchased more than 10 million new shares in CBRE. The shares were purchased for the going price of $3.77; CBRE's stock closed Monday at $5.14.

Spokesmen for the FDIC, Mrs. Feinstein and Mr. Blum's firm told The Times that there was no connection between the legislation and the contract signed Nov. 13

[Arrowhead1952]

Spokesmen for the FDIC, Mrs. Feinstein and Mr. Blum's firm told The Times that there was no connection between the legislation and the contract signed Nov. 13

[SunkenCiv]

Senator’s husband cashes in on crisis (Feinstein Alert)
Washington Times | 04/21/09 | Chuck Neubauer
Posted on 04/20/2009 11:28:40 PM PDT by Big_Monkey
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234056/posts

[justiceseeker93]

This is not the first time that Feinstein has steered government money toward her husband Blum.

[mtntop3]

“This is not the first time that Feinstein has steered government money toward her husband Blum”

Nancy Pelosi managed, before it was discovered, to have her hubby exempted from paying the federal minimum wage at his commercial operation on Guam (by exempting Guam from the legislation).