In Boston, Steward CEO refusing to answer to U.S. senators on bankruptcy

Steward Healthcare CEO Ralph de la Torre has declared he will not comply with a summons to appear before a U.S. Senate committee that is investigating the hospital company’s bankruptcy.

His lawyers told Senator Bernie Sanders that De la Torre will remain silent to respect an ongoing hospital reorganisation and settlement effort. A federal court order prohibits de la Torre from discussing anything during mediation, the lawyers said.

A federal bankruptcy court on Wednesday approved the sale of some six Steward hospitals in Massachusetts, with bids that were below par.

Steward bankruptcy disclosures reveal $250 million paid out to CEO de la Torre

Sanders chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is hearing witnesses on the management of some 30 American hospitals under Steward.

Sanders has said de la Torre became obscenely wealthy by loading up hospitals from Massachusetts to Arizona with billions of dollars in debt and selling the land underneath the hospitals to real estate executives who charged unsustainably high rents.

Lawyers for de la Torre accused the U.S. Senate committee of turning the hearing into “a pseudo-criminal proceeding in which they use the time, not to gather facts, but to convict Dr. de la Torre in the eyes of public opinion.”

Sanders said he will work with other members of the panel to determine the best way to press de la Torre for answers. “Let me be clear: We will not accept this postponement. Congress will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America,” Sanders said. “This Committee intends to move forward aggressively to compel Dr. de la Torre to testify to the gross mismanagement of Steward Health Care.”

Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, both Democrats, called de la Torre’s refusal to appear before the committee on Thursday, outrageous.

The committee can choose to either hold de la Torre in criminal contempt, which could result in a trial and jail time; or civil contempt, which would result in fines until he appears. Both would require a Senate vote.

Markey and Warren said de la Torre owes the public and Congress answers and must be held in contempt if he fails to appear before the committee.

“He got rich as private equity and real estate vultures picked apart, and drove into bankruptcy, hospitals that employed thousands of health care workers who served communities in Massachusetts and across the country,” the two said in a joint statement.

“De la Torre used hospitals as his personal piggy bank and lived in luxury while gutting Steward hospitals,” they added.