Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her husband are tied to questionable dealings between the world's largest commercial real estate firm and the U.S. Postal Service, according to investigative journalist Peter Byrne.

Feinstein's husband, Richard C. Blum, is chairman of C.B. Richard Ellis, or CBRE, the real estate firm hired in 2011 to serve as the exclusive agent to the Postal Service, selling facilities from post offices to plots of land worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Blum's investment firm, Blum Capital Partners, is the real estate company's fifth-largest institutional shareholder, according to Factcheck.org.

Byrne, a California-based freelance writer with a special interest in uncovering government and corporate corruption, conducted a yearlong investigation into the real estate portfolio of CBRE for his book, "Going Postal." In the book, published in September, Byrne claimed the real estate company undersold Postal Service properties, shortchanging the Postal Service on tens of millions of dollars.
In 2011, for example, the real estate firm sold a Seattle post office building assessed at $16 million for only half that, Byrne said. In another 2011 deal, CBRE acted as both the buyer and seller in a transaction with Goldman Sachs Group -- which owns 6.6 percent of CBRE -- posing "a potential conflict of interest," according to Byrne.

Byrne also suggested Feinstein lobbied Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to end a development project. The move benefitted CBRE, Byrne claimed.

Byrne said the blame for these questionable exchanges cannot be placed entirely on CBRE. The post office inspector general said the Postal Service Facilities Division failed to thoroughly oversee its relationship with CBRE. Byrne wrote that Blum ignored repeated requests for comment. Donahoe declined to comment. Byrne's introductory chapter doesn't say whether Feinstein commented.
Read an edited version of Byrne's introductory chapter here.