Steward Health Care, a hospital chain that owns 31 hospitals nationwide, including nine in Massachusetts and eight in Florida, is under federal investigation for potential foreign corruption violations. The investigation, led by federal authorities in Boston, comes after the company filed for bankruptcy. Records reviewed by the Globe Spotlight team reveal that Steward Health Care spent over $7 million on private intelligence firms from 2018 to 2023. In the months leading up to the bankruptcy filing, the company paid nearly $1.6 million to a British private intelligence firm, Audere, to surveil critics. Internal correspondence shows that Steward’s general counsel, Herbert Holtz, oversaw these payments, prioritizing them over medical vendor and staffing service bills. Additionally, Steward’s bankruptcy filing disclosed that it owed $1.43 million to its U.S. parent by Steward Malta and over $22 million by Steward Health Care International.