The CEO of an unsuccessful health center system who was paid numerous countless dollars while clients were presumably “killed and maimed” in his resource-starved and decaying centers, was a no-show at a Senate hearing on Thursday– regardless of a bipartisan subpoena engaging him to appear.

Legal representatives for Ralph de la Torre– the Harvard University-trained heart cosmetic surgeon who took control of the Steward Health Care System in 2020– informed senators in a letter recently that he was not able to affirm at the hearing. In spite of formerly consenting to the hearing, de la Torre and his attorneys argued that a federal court order originating from Steward’s personal bankruptcy case, submitted in May, avoided him from talking about anything amidst reorganization and settlement efforts.

That argument was discovered to be without benefit by the Senate committee that provided the subpoena in July– the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), chaired by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). In remarks to the Associated Press Wednesday, Sanders stated there were lots of subjects he might have securely gone over.

“Tell me about your private yacht”

“He has decided not to show up because he doesn’t want to explain to the American people how horrific his greed has become,” Sanders stated. “Tell me about your yacht. Tell me about your fishing boat. I want to hear your justification for that. Tell that to the community where staff was laid off while you made $250 million.”

On Thursday, legislators prepared a seat for de la Torre at the hearing, however it remained empty.

In a declaration to ABC News Thursday, Steward protected de la Torre’s lack. “The Committee continues to ignore the fact that there is an ongoing settlement effort underway with all interested parties that paves the way to keep all of Steward’s remaining hospitals open and preserve jobs,” the declaration stated. “Dr. de la Torre will not do anything that could jeopardize this effort.”

Legislators, on the other hand, have actually moved on with strategies to pursue civil and criminal contempt of Congress charges. “A witness cannot disregard and evade a duly authorized subpoena,” ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said at today’s hearing. “Today, the chair and I will be asking the committee to report a resolution to license civil enforcement and criminal contempt procedures versus Dr. de la Torre needing compliance with the subpoena.” The committee has actually set up a session on Thursday, September 19, to embrace the 2 resolutions.

While the star witness was AWOL, the hearing carried on, providing sensational and terrible statement from 2 Massachusetts nurses and Louisiana state leaders who experienced the conditions at Steward’s healthcare facilities, which number over 30 throughout 8 states. The most heart-wrenching testament originated from Ellen MacInnis, a nurse at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, which was taken control of by Steward.