Senator, spouse’s firm tied to FDIC

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) offered to help secure federal funds for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. days before the agency awarded a contract to her husband’s company in the housing foreclosure crisis.

On Oct. 30, Feinstein expressed backing for FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair’s proposal to stem home foreclosures through the use of federal bailout funds for the agency.

Days later, the FDIC awarded an unrelated, competitively bid contract to CB Richard Ellis Group, a commercial real estate services company where Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum, is board chairman.

Blum’s firm -- CBRE for short -- is selling foreclosed properties held by the FDIC.

Feinstein’s office said Tuesday that the senator was unaware that her husband’s company had received an FDIC contract until the Washington Times inquired about it Jan. 21.

The Washington Times first reported the story Tuesday, and Bair learned of the contract by reading about it in the newspaper, the FDIC said in a statement. A CBRE spokesman said Blum didn’t know of the pending contract until after its awarding was publicly announced Nov. 26.

The decision on the contract was made by permanent FDIC staff, and no one outside the group was aware CBRE was under consideration, the FDIC’s statement said.

At no time was Blum involved in the FDIC bid process, nor did he know CBRE was competing until after the contract award announcement, the firm said in a statement.

Blum does not participate in the firm’s day-to-day activities, and has no operational role, the company added.

The Treasury Department did not adopt Bair’s proposal.