Two senior employees and a former board member are accusing Clinica Sierra Vista’s leadership of corruption, financial manipulation and retaliation against whistleblowers.
The lawsuits allege executives at the Bakersfield-based healthcare nonprofit developed a plan that could have allowed them to personally benefit from inflated medical payments before working to suppress an independent investigation into the arrangement.
Clinica, which operates on an annual budget exceeding $200 million, says it is confident it will prevail in both cases, as first reported by The Bakersfield Californian.
Driving the news: Chief Administrative Officer Magdalena Pruitt and Director of Finance Genesis Barajas filed a lawsuit Aug. 19 in Kern County Superior Court.
The two employees allege they were placed on paid leave after reporting questionable transactions and accounting practices.
Former Clinica treasurer and board member Mario Valenzuela filed a separate federal lawsuit May 30.
Valenzuela’s lawsuit accuses board Chairwoman Ana Zarco of interfering with a board-authorized investigation and improperly removing him from the board.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
The alleged payment plan: Barajas was directed to prepare financial projections for the Westpoint Community Health Center, a new Clinica facility in southwest Bakersfield, according to the state lawsuit.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Irving Ayala-Rodriguez and Chief Financial Officer Harjeet Sidhu allegedly instructed Barajas to include a staffing model under which an outside contractor would receive above-market payments for each patient visit.
Barajas concluded that the third-party arrangement was the least cost-effective of the three options she evaluated and recommended against it.
However, the lawsuit alleges Clinica’s board was ultimately presented with only the outside-contractor option.
Zoom in: Around the same time, Ayala-Rodriguez allegedly told Magdalena Pruitt that he intended to establish his own medical group.
Pruitt later discovered that several Clinica executives had created BeyondCare Medical in July 2025.
State corporate records listed:
Ayala-Rodriguez as BeyondCare’s CEO.
Clinica CEO Dr. Olga Meave as its chief financial officer.
Clinica quality and population health director Martha Cheng as secretary.
Sidhu and his wife, Sundeep Kaur, as co-executive directors.
Ayala-Rodriguez, Meave and Cheng were also listed as directors.
Valenzuela’s attorney, Francisco Aldana, alleges the company was created to receive consulting fees from Clinica while avoiding disclosure requirements.
It remains unclear whether Clinica ever selected BeyondCare to operate Westpoint or whether any Clinica executive received money through the company. BeyondCare became inactive May 18.
Follow the money: The Pruitt-Barajas lawsuit also identifies several allegedly questionable accounting entries and contracts.
One involved an unexplained $5.8 million expense recorded in Clinica’s books.
Barajas alleges an accountant told her Sidhu ordered the entry to reduce Clinica’s reported profit margin despite there being no supporting paperwork.
The lawsuit also questions payments to JWC Healthcare Consulting, a company affiliated with Clinica Chief Transformation Officer John Church.
JWC was formed in February 2025.
Clinica’s records allegedly showed payments to the company dating to April 2024, nearly a year before its formation.
The lawsuit does not identify the total amount paid.
Another contract allegedly guaranteed a company owned by a former Clinica board chairman $12,000 per month to help develop a culture of organizational change.
The lawsuit alleges the agreement bypassed Clinica’s normal contracting procedures and that the payments went directly to the former chairman instead of his company.
More allegations: Sidhu and Church are also accused of directing a Clinica financial analyst to manipulate the nonprofit’s fiscal 2025 records.
According to the lawsuit, the analyst was told to:
Reduce the reported value of a $7.5 million payment Clinica expected to receive.
Inflate a $1.4 million receivable to $20 million.
Record a $1.2 million receivable as a $3 million liability.
Magdalena Pruitt and Barajas enlisted Pruitt’s husband, Clinica Chief Strategy and Information Officer Richard Pruitt, to help bring their concerns to Valenzuela.
The investigation: Clinica’s board hired Feldesman LLP in October 2025 to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations.
The Pruitt-Barajas lawsuit claims Clinica executives compromised that investigation almost immediately.
An administrative assistant to Meave allegedly identified the three employees who had raised concerns.
Feldesman’s invoices were routed to Church and Sidhu for approval.
Chief Human Resources Officer Katie Thompson allegedly sought copies of electronic searches and other materials Clinica’s information technology division was preparing for investigators.
The lawsuit alleges Clinica executives tried to remove Feldesman as early as November and replace the firm with Ryan Legal, Clinica’s Fresno-based attorneys.
Feldesman presented information to the board on March 19. The board suspended the investigation April 9 and terminated the firm shortly afterward, according to the lawsuits.
The board fight: Valenzuela’s federal complaint focuses largely on Zarco’s alleged interference with the investigation.
The lawsuit accuses Zarco of:
Canceling investigative interviews without board approval.
Withholding board-authorized instructions from Feldesman.
Restricting investigators’ access to board emails and other information.
Reintroducing Ryan Legal into the investigation despite an alleged conflict of interest.
Directing Feldesman to communicate exclusively with her instead of the full board.
Leading the board to suspend the investigation based on information from Ryan Legal.
Valenzuela also alleges Clinica’s seven-member board operated in violation of federal rules requiring at least nine members.
Clinica’s website now lists nine board members.
The retaliation claims: Magdalena Pruitt alleges Clinica began retaliating against her shortly after the concerns were reported to Valenzuela.
She claims she was excluded from meetings and subjected to increased scrutiny before being placed on paid leave June 5.
Barajas alleges Sidhu began bypassing her on accounting matters, reduced her responsibilities and excluded her from meetings and financial reporting emails. She was placed on paid leave June 19.
Richard Pruitt was placed on administrative leave and asked to retire June 4, according to the lawsuit.
Clinica also removed Valenzuela from the board less than a month after Feldesman was dismissed.
What they’re saying: Clinica attorney Russell Ryan said the nonprofit would not comment on pending litigation but is confident it will prevail in both cases.
The Clinica officers accused of misconduct did not provide comments to The Californian. Feldesman and Zarco also did not respond.
What’s next: Magdalena Pruitt and Barajas are seeking damages, statutory penalties, attorneys’ fees and other costs.
Valenzuela is asking a federal court to invalidate actions taken while Clinica’s board had fewer than nine members, including his removal.
He is also seeking an order requiring the board to resume and complete the independent investigation.