Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre has refused to testify before a Senate committee investigating the company’s bankruptcy, despite being subpoenaed to appear.
In a letter sent Wednesday to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, de la Torre’s attorneys argued that it would be inappropriate for him to testify while the bankruptcy proceedings are ongoing. They requested that the hearing be postponed until the legal process is resolved.
Steward Health Care, which operates 30 hospitals across eight states, filed for bankruptcy in May. A federal bankruptcy judge recently approved the sale of five hospitals in Massachusetts. Steward has been attempting to sell its entire portfolio of hospitals, but two facilities in Massachusetts, Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center, were forced to close after failing to attract buyers.
De la Torre’s attorneys accused the Senate committee of turning the hearing into a “pseudo-criminal proceeding,” suggesting that the focus would be on publicly vilifying him rather than gathering facts about the bankruptcy. They also asserted that it was not within the committee’s authority to make “predeterminations of alleged criminal misconduct.”
The Senate HELP Committee, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), issued the subpoena in July with strong bipartisan support. The committee is investigating the financial collapse of Steward Health Care and its impact on hospitals and employees. Sanders, who criticized de la Torre’s refusal to testify, vowed that the committee would push forward to hold the CEO accountable.
“Let me be clear: We will not accept this postponement … This committee intends to move forward aggressively to compel Dr. de la Torre to testify to the gross mismanagement of Steward Health Care,” Sanders said in a statement.
De la Torre has faced ongoing criticism for allegedly profiting while Steward’s hospitals struggled financially. According to the committee, de la Torre owns multiple luxury assets, including a yacht, a sportfishing boat, and a mansion in Dallas, as well as a majority stake in an affiliate that owned two corporate jets. Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) condemned his refusal to testify, calling it “outrageous.”
Fortune, the Hill, and USA Today contributed to this report.
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