The former CEO of Steward Health Care secured a $111 million dividend, negotiated an inflated purchase price for five Florida hospitals and diverted proceeds from the sale of Steward’s assets to a select group, a lawsuit charges.

Dr. Ralph de la Torre netted more than $80 million for himself, the suit claims. A portion of those funds allowed de la Torre to purchase the Amaral, a $30 million superyacht, and a private ranch in Waxahachie, Texas, for $6 million.

Attorneys representing the defunct health system’s debtors and debtors-in-possession presented their claims against de la Torre and others earlier this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

In its 68-page complaint, Kobre and Kim LLP of New York detailed how de la Torre and fellow defendants enriched themselves as the health system slid into bankruptcy.

Also named are Dr. Michael Callum, James Karam, Sanjay Shetty, Steward Health Care Investors LLC, Steward Health Care International S.L., Sparta Holding Co. LLC, Mullet II Ltd., Mullet II LLC, 5326 Old Buena Vista Road LLC, RDLT-SHCI Investor LLC and Tenet Healthcare Corporation.

Callum and Karam served with de la Torre on the Steward Health board. Shetty was the health system’s president from 2021 through 2023, the complaint states.

Steward Health entered the Mahoning Valley market in February 2017 with a purchase that included Trumbull Memorial Hospital, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital and Northside Medical Center in Youngstown. The transaction also included Sharon (Pa.) Regional Health System.

The debtors’ attorneys are pursuing the recovery of approximately $1.4 billion in addition to compensatory and punitive damages along with attorney fees.

The suit claims de la Torre:

• Obtained the distribution of a $111 million dividend from the health system in January 2021.

“While the issuance of the $111M dividend was catastrophic to the finances of SHC System, it served to enrich these insiders,” according to the lawsuit. Of that amount, the former CEO reportedly received $81.5 million. Months later, he purchased the superyacht, the suit claims.

• Orchestrated the purchase of Miami-area hospitals at an inflated rate.

In June 2021, Steward Health and Tenet Healthcare entered into a $1.1 billion agreement. Steward obtained Coral Gables Hospital, Florida Medical Center, Hialeah Hospital, North Shore Medical Center and Palmetto General Hospital.

“Yet the hospitals were not worth nearly what SHC System paid for them,” the debtors’ attorney said.

“Instead, the hospitals and their real property were initially valued by SHC System at only $895 million, and, on information and belief, the higher price of over $1.1 billion was based on de la Torre’s personal desire to build a hospital empire in the Miami area, rather than on any independent financial analysis.”

• Diverted funds from the sale of Steward Health assets.

The lawsuit claims that in 2022, de la Torre negotiated the sale of Steward’s value-based care assets related to its Medicare Advantage business to CareMax Inc. Plaintiff’s attorneys charge that of the $194 million deal, a total of $134 million went to de la Torre and selected parties.

Citing billions in debt, Dallas-based Steward Health Care filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 6, 2024.

Earlier this year, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice were asked to investigate Steward Health officials.