U.S. Firm in Malta Scandal Paid Spies $1.6M Before Declaring Bankruptcy

This month, OCCRP reported that Steward had employed the spy firm, London-based Audere International, to keep tabs on its opponents and find compromising information as part of “spare no expenses” intelligence operations.

Audere and another British spy firm racked up more than $7 million in bills over six years, even as Steward failed to meet payments for critical healthcare services such as lab supplies and doctors’ fees.

Documents obtained by OCCRP suggested Steward executives were involved in directing Audere’s work, and that Audere employees reported back to Herb Holtz, Steward’s general counsel.

Audere’s lawyers have denied the company engaged in unlawful conduct and said it “takes its legal and regulatory compliance obligations seriously and acts in accordance with the same.” Steward declined to comment on OCCRP’s report.

Financial filings, which Steward disclosed on Wednesday as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, revealed new details about payments made to Audere as recently as April.

From February 7 to April 2, the filings show, Steward paid Audere $1.58 million in six payments, ranging from $152,697.98 to $465,204.90. Steward filed for bankruptcy on May 6, just over a month after the last payment.

In 2018, Steward was awarded a 2.1-billion-euro contract to renovate and manage three public hospitals in Malta. Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and over two dozen others were arraigned in May on corruption charges related to the contract. They have all pleaded not guilty.

OCCRP has reported that Steward charged fees for spy services back to its Malta division, which was funded largely by Maltese taxpayers. The use of Maltese taxpayer money by Steward U.S. to finance spy activities is currently being investigated by the government of Malta.

The bankruptcy filing showed “notes receivable” of roughly $1.43 million were owed to Steward’s U.S. parent company by Steward Malta and over $22 million by Steward Health Care International, but it did not give further details about the purpose or timing of the loans.

The bankruptcy filings also showed new details about payments to Steward’s executives, including CEO Ralph de la Torre, who received a gross salary of over $4 million. (A company spokesman told the Boston Globe that the reported salaries were inflated and would be corrected.)

De la Torre also received more than $1 million as reimbursements for unnamed vendors between May 2023 and April 2024, as well as $161,000 for “non-business flights,” the filings showed.

Earlier this month, the Maltese government announced that it would investigate revelations by OCCRP that Steward may have financed a smear campaign against the country’s former health minister.