Senate Panel Votes to Hold Steward Health CEO in Contempt of Congress

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Dr. Ralph de la Torre had been issued a congressional subpoena for Sept. 12 but refused to appear.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted on Sept. 19 to hold Dr. Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward Health Care Systems, in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer a Sept. 12 subpoena.

The subpoena, authorized on July 25, sought to investigate allegations of mismanagement and substandard care at Steward’s chain of hospitals, even as its CEO and shareholders raked in huge profits.

The committee voted on two resolutions: one to bring civil action against de la Torre to enforce the subpoena, and the other for him to be criminally prosecuted for failure to appear. Both resolutions passed, 20–0.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said at the hearing that de la Torre’s lawyers originally indicated he would comply with the subpoena but sent word on Sept. 4 that he had changed his mind.

“It is not just Congress he is defying. It is the people whom we represent, and not just in our states, but nationwide,” the senator said.

The HELP Committee on July 25 had accused de la Torre and Steward’s leadership of engaging in a Ponzi scheme by purchasing hospitals across the nation and selling the hospitals’ land at a profit of $1.6 billion.

The committee had invited de la Torre to appear voluntarily several times before issuing the subpoena, but he neglected to do so. It was the first time the HELP Committee had subpoenaed witness testimony since 1981.

Steward Medical Group was formed in 2010 by Cerberus Capital Management, becoming the largest physician-owned health care system in the country. It acquired a group of failing hospitals from the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, turning them into for-profit centers.

In 2016, Steward sold the land occupied by the hospitals, forcing them to lease it back at prices as high as $1 million a year.

Steward cut services, closed some hospitals, and neglected to reinvest in others; in some cases, it failed to pay rent on medical equipment, which was then repossessed.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) alleged that during this time, de la Torre was reaping massive investment profits, purchasing a $40 million yacht, a $15 million fishing boat, and a private jet.

In 2020, Cerberus “agreed to exchange the controlling interest in Steward for a $350 million convertible note,” the company said in an April 2024 statement. The convertible note was acquired less than a year later, it said, “ending the Cerberus Funds investment in Steward.”

In court documents filed at the time, Steward said it had over $9 billion in total liabilities, including $1.2 billion in loans, $6.6 billion in long-term rent obligations, nearly $1 billion in unpaid bills from medical vendors and suppliers, and $290 million in unpaid employee wages and benefits.

At that time, Steward and de la Torre released a statement that said, “Steward Health Care has done everything in its power to operate successfully in a highly challenging health care environment. Filing for Chapter 11 restructuring is in the best interests of our patients, physicians, employees, and communities at this time.”

His statement also said that some of the company’s financial problems were caused by “insufficient reimbursement by government payors as a result of decreasing reimbursement rates” and increasing labor costs.

Steward Health Care and de la Torre did not respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.

Reuters contributed to this report.