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Richard Blum has been identified as the member of the University of California Board of Regents who, according to state auditors, inappropriately wrote a letter that helped an unqualified student get into UC Berkeley, The Mercury News reported.
Blum is an investment banker and the husband of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat.
He was not identified in a report released earlier in the week, but a Berkeley spokeswoman confirmed that Blum was the person who wrote the letter.
"According to the audit, Blum sent a letter in support of a still-unidentified student to the chancellor after the student was placed on UC Berkeley’s waitlist. The chancellor’s office sent the letter to Cal’s development office, which forwarded it to the admissions office. And despite the fact that the applicant had around a 26 percent chance of being admitted based on the ratings assigned to their application, they were accepted," the Mercury News reported.
Blum told the newspaper, “This is the first time I’ve heard that maybe I did something that wasn’t right. I think it’s a bunch of nonsense.”
