Steward Well being Care System CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre was reportedly paid out at the very least $250 million over the previous 4 years – whereas the hospital chain collapsed.
Steward, which operates 30 hospitals throughout eight states, filed for chapter in Might, drawing authorities scrutiny.
The payouts to its chief exec, first reported by The Wall Avenue Journal, are primarily based on public disclosures seen by the newspaper, and had been all dished after de la Torre took over majority possession of the agency from its private-equity proprietor in 2020.
He went on to make use of the cash on a 500-acre ranch in Waxahachie, Texas – a $7.2million property that comes on high of a 190-foot, $40 million yacht additionally owned by the previous cardiac surgeon, who turned CEO of Steward’s predecessor in 2008.
He additionally owns an 11,108-square-foot mansion in Dallas, valued at $7.2 million. Neighbors embrace George W. Bush and Mark Cuban within the sought-after location.
Steward Well being Care System CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre was paid out at the very least $250 million over the previous 4 years, a current report from the Wall Avenue Journal discovered
Pictured, a 190-foot, $40 million yacht owned by the previous cardiac physician, who was lately noticed in France watching Olympic equestrian occasions at Versailles
‘He principally stole hundreds of thousands out of Steward on the backs of staff and sufferers and acquired himself fancy yachts, mansions and now apparently lavish journeys to Versailles,’ stated Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey stated final week, referring to how the hospital proprietor was lately in France watching Olympic equestrian occasions at Versailles.
‘I hope he will get his simply due and that federal investigators will come after him for his actions,’ she stated in an announcement, as Steward two Massachusetts hospitals had been flagged for closure. Each did not get bids amid a current flash sale.
‘Our administration is working evening and day to guard jobs, shield sufferers, and choose up the items of the state of affairs that Ralph de la Torre has put us in,’ Healey, a Democrat, went on.
‘I’m disgusted by Ralph de la Torre,’ she concluded.
In the meantime, Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Middle in Ayer are each set to shut by the top of month – weeks after Steward abruptly introduced it might be declaring chapter.
The Dallas-based agency, on the time, stated it might be promoting off all of its hospitals to handle the division, spurring Healey to subject an announcement saying she was ‘cautiously optimistic’ in regards to the potential switch of 5 different Steward-run hospitals not together with the 2 talked about.
All are in Massachusetts, the place Steward operates seven hospitals.
Nevertheless, she burdened the ability ‘is within the fingers of the lenders’ – whereas additionally urgent Steward to stick to state laws that state hospital house owners should give 120 days discover earlier than any facility can shut.
Pictured, Nashoba Valley Medical Middle in Massachusetts, now set to shut because of Steward’s funds
Hospital workers and group members held a protest in entrance of Carney Hospital as Steward has introduced it can shut the hospital
Within the years earlier than this, Steward was shedding tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} a 12 months, all whereas paying de la Torre, 58, handsomely.
The cash pit noticed situations at Steward’s different hospitals fall into unhappy straits, the Journal discovered, citing one in Florida discovered final 12 months to be housing 3,000 bats.
Then, this month in Phoenix, air conditioners failed at a Steward hospital forcing sufferers to be moved elsewhere – in a metropolis the place summer season temperatures recurrently exceed 100 levels.
Some six years earlier than, De La Torre sat courtside at a Phoenix Suns recreation the place he gave an interview to Fox Sport, touting the discharge of the then-new Steward Middle for Sports activities Drugs and Group Well being.
‘Steward believes in closely pioneering healthcare for the group. What we’re making an attempt to do is carry nice innovation, wellness & prevention, and nice care to your entire Phoenix group,’ he stated on the time, two years earlier than being granted majority possession of the corporate in 2020.
Now, the power is on the chopping block, after St. Luke’s Behavioral Hospital, the hospital with the defective ACs, was ordered to stop operations this previous Tuesday.
A number of weeks earlier than, the US Senate launched an investigation into de la Torre’s funds and subpoenaed him to testify – an look he will probably be required to make subsequent month.
In 2018, De La Torre sat courtside at a Phoenix Suns recreation the place he gave an interview to Fox Sport, touting the discharge of the then-new Steward Middle for Sports activities Drugs and Group Well being, which, just like the hospital’s different amenities, is now on the chopping block
Healey, in the meantime, is asking for de la Torre to be federally investigated, given the belongings he and his 29-year-old second spouse, a self-described actual property consultant and equestrian, Nicole Costa, have compiled through the years.
Her horse, Dante SPH, was beforehand offered at public sale in 2014 to a Russian couple for round $3.5 million, The Journal reported.
She trains at a facility down the highway from the ranch in Waxahachie, and flaunts pictures of her exploits on social media.
The pair married in an elaborate ceremony on the Amalfi Coast in 2022, proper within the midst of Steward’s struggles.
Round that point, The Journal discovered, Steward issued $3 million of charitable contributions final 12 months to the Greenhill College in Addison, Texas, the place de la Torre’s twin teenage sons from his first marriage are at present in highschool.
Furthermore, a federal grand jury in Boston is now investigating the chain however not de la Torre, to discern whether or not it violated antibribery legal guidelines in a deal to run state-owned hospitals in Malta.
A Maltese Justice of the Peace has advisable legal fees towards de la Torre, for alleged corruption of public officers, following an investigation that resulted in fees towards a former prime minister and different high-profile figures.
The Olympic equestrian occasions at Versailles the CEO attended final month – the identical day his hospital stated it might be closing two of its
‘Our administration is working evening and day to guard jobs, shield sufferers, and choose up the items of the state of affairs that Ralph de la Torre has put us in,’ Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat, stated final week. ‘I’m disgusted by Ralph de la Torre’
De la Torre is a graduate of Harvard Medical College, and earlier than changing into the agency’s CEO in 2008, was a famend coronary heart surgeon
Based on the Senate committee trying into the agency’s funds, Steward affiliate that’s majority-owned by de la Torre additionally owns $15 million sportfishing boat referred to as Jaruco, in addition to wo non-public jets valued at $95 million.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is main that committee, and after authorizing an investigation into the chapter of Steward Well being Care and the subpoena its CEO, chided de la Torre in a stern assertion.
‘Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward Well being Care, epitomizes the outrageous company greed of our for-profit well being care system,’ the Vermont senator stated.
‘Whereas Steward was busy shutting down hospitals throughout America, de la Torre acquired $100m, which he used to buy a $40m yacht. Disgusting.’
Per week later, protesters appeared outdoors the 2 Massachusetts hospitals Steward’s can also be closing, demanding justice.
Indicators produced included on demanding officers ‘Sink Ralph’s ship; not ours’, in reference to his mega yacht.
After being contacted by the Journal, de la Torre declined to be interviewed, with a spokesperson saying , ‘Dr. de la Torre made more cash as a coronary heart surgeon than in his first years as a company CEO.’
Greater than 1,200 staff might lose their jobs if Carney and Nashoba Valley each shut
The exec – who additionally instructed the Journal ‘he was regrettably on a household trip that was deliberate and paid for final 12 months’ when his hospital closures had been introduced – stays beneath subpoena
The once-renowned surgeon added in his personal assertion that the worth of his two boats had been ‘inflated’ by the Senate committee, which is investigating the corporate, not him particularly.
Paul Levy, who was chief government at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Middle in Boston when de la Torre labored there as a coronary heart surgeon, in flip instructed the Journal, ‘[de la Torre could] grow to be one of the crucial acknowledged coronary heart surgeons on the earth.’
As an alternative, ‘he was pushed to be one thing totally different, and the one thing totally different was to be wealthy and well-known and an enormous industrial success.’
De la Torre is a graduate of Harvard Medical College. Greater than 1,200 staff might lose their jobs if Carney and Nashoba Valley each shut.
The exec – who additionally instructed the Journal ‘he was regrettably on a household trip that was deliberate and paid for final 12 months’ when his hospital closures had been introduced – stays beneath subpoena.
The hospitals that he partially owns are all up on the market.
