He has long been a white collar trial lawyer with an emphasis on health care fraud, anti-kickback allegations, securities fraud, and other alleged business crimes. Mr. Ansley regularly represents individuals and companies in complex matters involving the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) and Health Care Fraud Strike Force, the Department of Defense (DOD), and many other government agencies.

Mr. Ansley is a Chambers USA-ranked, seasoned white collar criminal defense trial lawyer and former federal fraud prosecutor for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. He has successfully tried numerous federal criminal cases for and against the government, including as lead trial counsel in a month-long jury trial resulting in a complete defense verdict in an alleged $500 million health care fraud and kickback scheme. He focuses exclusively on white collar criminal defense, federal trials and  grand jury matters, internal investigations, and regulatory and enforcement actions. He routinely handles cases involving the False Claims Act (FCA) and parallel criminal investigations, the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), Stark I and II, health care fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), whistleblower claims, securities and other financial fraud, accounting irregularities, insider trading, bribery and public corruption, government contractor fraud, import and export controls, tax fraud, antitrust, bank fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, extortion, and mail, wire, and honest services fraud. Mr. Ansley’s practice routinely places him between his clients and the government.

In the health care industry, he defends physicians and other health care providers, practice groups, hospitals, dentists, DSOs, pharmacists and marketers in criminal and regulatory investigations, prosecutions and trials. In the securities industry, he represents public companies, their officers and directors, broker-dealers, financial advisers and advisory firms, and other securities industry participants in investigations and proceedings by the DOJ, SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and state securities regulators.

Mr. Ansley also has led numerous internal investigations into possible criminal and regulatory misconduct and counsels clients regarding compliance in these areas.

Before joining Vedder Price, Mr. Ansley served for almost a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Major Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. As an AUSA, he led the District’s inter-agency Fraud Task Force, where he prosecuted and tried complex health care fraud, securities fraud and public corruption cases. Notably, he was lead counsel in the investigation, prosecution and eventual months’-long trial of the largest Ponzi scheme in the Northern District of Texas, culminating in guilty verdicts and extensive sentences for the architects of the fraud.   

Based on his combined experience as a fraud prosecutor and SEC attorney, Mr. Ansley has an insider’s knowledge of the tactics used by prosecutors and investigators, resources he now uses on behalf of his clients. This experience makes him uniquely qualified to handle not only these investigations and charges, but also any collateral regulatory, administrative and civil consequences.

Mr. Ansley is ranked by Chambers USA for “Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations,” Band 2, where he is described as “one of my go-to for white-collar matters,” “very, very well versed in healthcare fraud investigations and defense,” and “the consummate client-focused attorney.” He has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2018, was named a “Litigation Star” in the Benchmark Litigation 2020 guide, and has been selected by his peers for inclusion in Thompson Reuters Super Lawyers since 2010. He is consistently recognized by Texas Monthly and D Magazine as a top practitioner and for the strength of his white collar defense practice and serves as a frequent speaker, author and commentator.