Boston Globe: As Cerberus CEO faces Senate confirmation for Trump post, Warren seeks answers on Steward

The chief executive of the private equity group that yielded a roughly $800 million profit from its investment in Steward Health Care is set to face the US Senate soon in his bid to serve as a top official at the Pentagon, and his company’s involvement in the now-troubled hospital chain is drawing scrutiny.

The extent of Cerberus Capital Management chief executive Stephen Feinberg’s involvement with Steward were among the questions Senator Elizabeth Warren posed in a letter sent Monday night ahead of his upcoming confirmation hearing. The letter includes dozens of concerns the Massachusetts Democrat has over the billionaire’s nomination as deputy defense secretary.

“Cerberus, under your leadership, has exemplified the concerns that I have long had about private equity firms: that its focus on debt-fueled acquisitions, managed for the short-term and for the benefit of insider executives, ultimately leaves the companies it acquires as hollowed-out shells and hurts workers, customers, and communities,” Warren wrote in the letter shared with The Boston Globe.

Steward is listed as one of several companies Warren says Cerberus invested in that later went bankrupt or struggled financially, including Chrysler, gun maker Remington, defense contractor DynCorp, and grocery chain Albertsons.

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