Cassidy, Sanders press DOJ on former Steward CEO’s contempt referral

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Dive Temporary:

• Two senators on an influential Health committee are pressing Attorney General Todd Blanche on the Senate’s request to carry former Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in prison contempt of Congress. 
• In a letter sent to Blanche last week, Sens. Invoice Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Health, Training, Labor and Pensions committee and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a rating member, accused the federal government of failing to behave after the Senate unanimously voted in 2024 to carry de la Torre in contempt for snubbing a congressional subpoena and failing to seem at a listening to on Steward’s chapter.  
• Cassidy and Sanders requested an replace from Blanche by Aug. 20. “We would have liked solutions from Dr. de la Torre, as did the Health Care staff compelled to deal with sufferers in harmful circumstances, family members of sufferers who died, and communities who noticed their native hospitals shut or face extreme monetary misery,” the letter reads. The DOJ and U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Dive Perception:

Steward, which operated 31 hospitals throughout eight states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2024. 

The submitting, the most important for-profit hospital chapter in U.S. historical past, triggered a large fireplace sale of the system’s hospitals and different belongings. A number of hospitals closed, together with Information-faqs-about-the-closure-and-transition-of-steward-facilities”>Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Middle in Massachusetts, after Steward stated IT obtained no certified bids. 

Lawmakers rapidly scrutinized the chapter, together with de la Torre’s function within the collapse. The manager drew scrutiny for his luxurious way of life, together with proudly owning non-public jets, a yacht and a number of properties, whereas the Health system crumbled beneath multi-billion greenback debt hundreds.

The HELP Committee introduced IT would launch an investigation into the chapter after which authorized a subpoena in July 2024, directing de la Torre to testify at a future listening to. 

Nonetheless, de la Torre declined to seem on the listening to after asserting his Fifth Modification rights via his attorneys. The committee accredited civil-enforcement and criminal-contempt resolutions and the total Senate adopted the prison referral six days later.

Within the letter to Blanche, Cassidy and Sanders say that de la Torre’s wealth shouldn’t make him “proof against requests from Congress.”

The renewed stress on DOJ comes days after the D.C. Circuit affirmed the dismissal of de la Torre’s lawsuit making an attempt to nullify the Senate’s contempt decision. The courtroom stated de la Torre may have asserted his Fifth Modification rights on the listening to and will increase a constitutional protection if a contempt prosecution strikes ahead.

The appellate ruling doesn’t decide whether or not de la Torre will likely be prosecuted. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has said U.S. attorneys retain conventional prosecutorial discretion to not refer congressional contempt citations to a grand jury or prosecute them. A consultant for de la Torre didn’t reply to a request for remark by press time