SAN FRANCISCO -- The husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has invested millions of dollars in firms doing business in China, even as Feinstein was pushing for expanded trade between China and the United States, the San Francisco Examiner reported Sunday.
According to public records, Feinstein's husband Richard Blum's investment bank backs a venture capital firm which owns millions of dollars in stock in corporations doing business in China.
The firm is Newbridge Capital, a joint venture between Richard C. Blum & Associates and another firm called Texas Pacific Group.
In the past two years, the firm has invested at least $90 million in companies whose profits are connected to the mainland China market, according to the companies.
Feinstein's spokesman Kam Kuwata has said that Blum and Feinstein have divested of any holdings in mainland China, but Feinstein's May 2000 disclosure statement said Blum holds a stake of more than $1 million in a limited partnership fund.
Blum said he has not benefited from the investments. Instead, he said he earmarked some assets for charity and sold others.
The issue has come up for Feinstein before, in 1994 during her campaign against Rep. Michael Huffington when she had been pushing expanded trade with China and again in 1997, when she considered a run for governor.
This year, Feinstein again pushed trade with China. The measure to normalize trade passed by a wide margin.
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