By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein has filed a lawsuit alleging financial misconduct and breach of trust by her late husband’s estate trustees.
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 8 in California Superior Court in San Francisco County by Sen. Catherine Feinstein’s daughter, who has power of attorney for her.
Feinstein, 90, is a member of the Democrats’ narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate and has suffered a number of ailments recently, including a bout with shingles that has kept her out of work for weeks.
Feinstein and her late husband, Richard Bloom, married in 1980 and lived together as husband and wife for more than 42 years, until Bloom’s death in early 2022.
The lawsuit alleges that the trustees committed “financial abuse” to Feinstein by “bad faith withholding distributions entitlement to her (her late husband’s) trust and diverting assets that they should have used to fund” the senator’s trust.
The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the recording on Tuesday.
Stephen Praccini, an attorney representing co-trustees Michael Klein and Mark Scholvinck, said the trustees “have acted ethically and appropriately at all times; the same cannot be said for Katherine Feinstein. This deposit is unreasonable.”
The attorney added, “The trustees have always respected Senator Feinstein and always will. But this has nothing to do with her needs and everything to do with her daughter’s stinginess.”
Feinstein’s Senate office called the case a “private legal matter” and said it would not comment.
The veteran representative is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that plays a critical role in confirming presidential appointments to federal judges. First elected to the Senate in 1992, Feinstein has said she will not seek re-election in 2024.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Mahler)
