Gov. Maura Healey floats federal investigation into Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre

Gov. Maura Healey suggested Thursday that federal investigators should “come after” Ralph de la Torre, the embattled Steward Health Care executive who was reportedly spotted at the Olympic Games in France as his company announced two local hospitals were slated to close.

Healey’s comment, shared first in a statement with the Herald, marked the closest the governor has come to calling for a federal investigation into de la Torre after the company declared bankruptcy and thousands of patients in Massachusetts were left at risk of losing health care.

The first-term Democrat said she is “disgusted” by de la Torre.

“He basically stole millions out of Steward on the backs of workers and patients and bought himself fancy yachts, mansions and now apparently lavish trips to Versailles. I hope he gets his just due and that federal investigators will come after him for his actions. Our administration is working night and day to protect jobs, protect patients, and pick up the pieces of the situation that Ralph De La Torre has put us in,” Healey said in the statement.

Healey’s “hope” for a potential federal investigation into de la Torre comes weeks after Steward Health Care announced plans to close Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer.

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A spokesperson for de la Torre declined to comment on Healey’s remark and a spokesperson for Steward Health Care, which has previously acknowledged it is already under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry.

The de la Torre spokesperson did offer a response to a report from a Boston Globe columnist that he was at the Olympic Games in Versailles at the time the planned closure of the two hospitals became public.

The spokesperson said de la Torre “does not have the authority” to make decisions regarding closures or sales in Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy process.

“In fact, this announcement was made in the course of the bankruptcy court proceedings, resulting at least in part from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ refusal to offer its support to the debtors regarding the bids that were in fact received,” the spokesperson said. “These facts are clear in the court transcript.”

De la Torre was “regrettably” on a family vacation that was planned and paid for last year, according to the spokesperson, who emphasized his “lack of authority” around the hospital closures.

“Despite what the press continues to say, Dr. de la Torre has been focused on managing the situation, and to the extent that the bankruptcy proceedings allow him to, keeping hospitals open and patients fully cared for,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Healey administration officials have said this past month that bids for Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center, including those from a Michigan-based company, were not accepted because they were not deemed “qualified.”

The two hospitals are scheduled to close on or around Aug. 31, a timeline that is faster than state regulations typically provide for. More than 1,000 employees are set to be laid off from the company when the facilities close.

At an unrelated event earlier this week, Healey said there were no “viable” bids for the two hospitals.

“As we go forward, we’re facing a situation where there are dwindling funds, you know, and that’s why we as a state have had to support, in some instances, funding to continue operations,” she said, referencing a deal with the state to hand over $30 million to keep Steward hospitals operating until they can be sold.

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