The Hill reports:
The Postal Service needs to end its relationship with a major commercial real estate broker, a federal watchdog said this week.The Hill "conveniently" forgot to mention CBRE is Senator Dianne Feinstein's husband real estate operationlooting off the taxpayers. No word yet on this story from "inequality" fighters Hillary Clinton , Comrade Bernie Sanders, or Robert Reich. Any doubt why Dianne Feinstein got into politics?
USPS’s inspector general said the agency’s set-up with CBRE, in which the real estate broker sometimes represents both sides of a lease or sale, sparks “conflicts of interest.”
Both the Postal Service and CBRE have defended their current arrangement. But the inspector general said it’s concerned that “CBRE may not negotiate property sales and lease transactions in the Postal Service’s best interest.”
Before the Postal Service and CBRE teamed up, the inspector general said, potential landlords used to negotiate directly with the agency.
But now, the watchdog says it has heard complaints from building owners about CBRE demanding commission payments. In all, CBRE collected roughly $20.6 million in commissions on roughly 3,400 leases.
On top of that, the inspector general said that it believes the Postal Service – which lost some $5 billion in the most recent fiscal year – could be overpaying by about $9.5 million a year on rent due to leases negotiated by CBRE. Those overpayments, the inspector general said, went toward commissions for CBRE.
