Ralph de la Torre, the embattled chief executive officer and founder of the bankrupt Steward Health Care System, sued a US Senate committee probing the hospital chain’s financial collapse.

Steward Health Care's Ralph de la Torre, who is stepping down as the bankrupt private hospital network's chief executive, on Monday sued a U.S. Senate committee which has voted to hold him in contempt for refusing to testify about Steward's financial troubles.

Ralph de la Torre, the controversial chief executive officer of one of the nation’s largest private health systems, Steward Health Care System, will step down from his position Oct. 1.

Ralph de la Torre will step down as CEO of troubled Steward Health Care next week, the company said on Saturday, after he was held in criminal contempt by the U.S. Senate for refusing to testify about cost-cutting decisions at the group's 31 hospitals before it filed for bankruptcy.

With his affinity for luxury yachts and corporate jets, de la Torre became a symbol of greed in for-profit health care, amid mounting stories this year of patients harmed by staff and shortages of critical supplies at Steward hospitals.