Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chairman Bill Cassidy, M.D., R-La., and Ranking Member Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., requested a status update from Attorney General Todd Blanche on the contempt referral against Ralph de la Torre, M.D., former chairman and CEO of Steward Health Care.
In an Aug. 6 letter (PDF), the Senators wrote the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia “has not yet acted” to hold de la Torre “criminally accountable for his actions.” Cassidy and Sanders requested an update from Blanche by Aug. 20.
Steward Health Care, which previously operated 31 hospitals across eight states, filed for bankruptcy in May 2024—marking the largest for-profit hospital bankruptcy in the nation’s history.
“The bankruptcy represented a culmination of financial mismanagement and self-interested incentives by Dr. de la Torre and corporate executives in health care, private equity, and real estate,” the letter read. “The resulting harm included termination of health care workers, patient deaths, and multiple hospital closures resulting in lack of access to care.”
In response, the HELP Committee launched an investigation into the system’s financial management and invited de La Torre to appear at a hearing.
De la Torre declined the invitation, which prompted the committee to subpoena him. After he failed to appear, committee members voted 20-0 to hold de la Torre in criminal contempt. It was the first criminal contempt resolution from the committee in modern U.S. history, according to an Aug. 7 press release.
De la Torre stepped down as CEO and chair of Steward Health Care in September 2024 and filed a lawsuit against the Senate HELP Committee for allegedly violating his Fifth Amendment rights.
“Dr. de la Torre’s wealth should not make him immune to requests from Congress, especially as communities continue to grapple with the consequences of Dr. de la Torre’s greed,” the Aug. 6 letter read.
In July 2025, the for-profit health system filed a lawsuit against former leadership, including de la Torre, over alleged “greed and bad faith misconduct” that contributed to its bankruptcy filing.
The system said it would pursue more than $3 billion in legal claims to repay its bankruptcy expenses, expected to be completed by mid-2027 if it can recover even a portion of the claims.