Watchdog Requests IRS Investigation into AltaMed Health Services Corp. for Potential Private Inurement or Excess Benefit Transaction Violations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 20, 2026
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Campaign for Accountability (CfA) filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requesting an investigation into whether AltaMed Health Services Corporation, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation and Section 501(c)(3) public charity, violated IRS rules prohibiting private inurement and excess benefit transactions.
AltaMed operates one of the largest community health and managed care networks in Los Angeles and Orange County, serving over 700,000 low-income patients. The organization reported over $1.7 billion in revenue in 2024, much of it reimbursed through Medicare, Medicaid, and California’s Medi-Cal. Despite its nonprofit status, AltaMed appears to operate like a closely held business that disproportionately benefits the family and private interests of Cástulo de la Rocha, its President and & CEO, and his wife, Zoila Escobar, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, as well as their children.
CfA executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “Evidence suggests AltaMed is spending a fortune to serve the interest of its CEO and his family, rather than focusing its spending on the low-income clients it was created to serve. The IRS should investigate whether the de la Rocha’s outrageous spending is violating tax law.”
In addition to de la Rocha and his wife, all five of their children and stepchildren work at the organization, some in prominent positions, and one as “Assistant Curator of Film & New Media.”
In 2024, Cástulo de la Rocha earned a reported $1,925,688 in compensation—dramatically exceeding that paid to executives at similar, large California federally qualified health centers. He and his wife also appear to benefit substantially from AltaMed’s complex, split-dollar life insurance arrangements, which have loaned the pair $17.34 million and $4.17 million, respectively, to pay the premiums on permanent life insurance policies. This generous benefit was supposedly established to attract and retain key employees, but most of the program’s expenditures appear to have gone to the de la Rocha family.
AltaMed also has spent millions supporting de la Rocha’s self-described “obsession” with collecting art, enabling him to reach the top of the art world—attending extravagant art openings and galas, sitting on art museum boards of directors, and receiving awards as a patron of the arts. AltaMed also pledged $15 million to the University of La Verne in 2023 for a facility that will be named for de la Rocha personally.
CfA’s complaint details how these financial arrangements appear to violate multiple sections of the Internal Revenue Code governing Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations. If the IRS determines that de la Rocha is using Altamed for his private inurement, or AltaMed has engaged in excess benefit transactions with de la Rocha or his family, the agency has discretion to impose financial penalties and even revoke AltaMed’s tax-exempt status.
Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.