Meet the family protecting medical mutilation in Texas
A wealthy Iranian-American family of Democrats who are deeply entrenched in Texas’ health system is going after opponents of “gender-affirming care,” or what some doctors call medical mutilation.
Tina Ansari is the assistant United States attorney in Houston currently prosecuting a high-profile case against Dr. Eithan Haim, a surgeon who worked at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH). Dr. Haim sparked media and political attention last year when he exposed TCH for secretly performing medical mutilation procedures on children.
After Dr. Haim went public, the Department of Justice activated Ansari, who sent armed agents to the surgeon’s home in June and had him indicted on four counts of HIPAA violations. She would later admit to presenting false information to the grand jury, though she claimed not to have done so “knowingly.” According to a letter from Dr. Haim’s attorneys to Congress, at the time she sent agents to Dr. Haim’s home, Ansari acknowledged being unfamiliar with HIPAA laws and any evidence of wrongdoing by Dr. Haim.
This is apparent throughout the case. Ansari’s indictment was so flawed that she was forced to bring a superseding indictment to replace it. Part of this was because she had accused Dr. Haim of “wrongfully disclosing” patient data, which she then discovered he had not. She therefore had to bring another indictment accusing Dr. Haim of “using” patient data, which is not a criminal offense.
The two indictments contain another key difference. In the original, the government accuses Dr. Haim of causing “malicious harm to TCH, pediatric patients at TCH and its physicians.” In the later indictment, the government drops mention of pediatric patients and only accuses Dr. Haim of harming “TCH and its physicians.” In other words, Ansari is no longer pretending to protect patients but rather the TCH and the Baylor College of Medicine physicians who staff the hospital.
Sima Ladjevardian: Aunt
Protecting TCH appears to be in the interest of Ansari’s family. Her aunt, Sima Ladjevardian, is an Iranian-born prominent Democrat who has been an active supporter of TCH. In May, Sima and her husband Masoud co-sponsored a TCH fundraiser called “An Evening With Legends” where they helped raise over $1 million for the hospital. She has also raised funds for the Baylor College of Medicine, the medical school affiliated with TCH.
Sima, who was named one of Houston’s Most Influential Women 2020-2021, has deep connections to the medical-industrial complex. In 2021, Joe Biden appointed her the regional director for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where she also played a key role in the Office of Intergovernmental & External Affairs. Sima currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Harris Health System together with Afsheen Davis, TCH’s vice president and general counsel. Harris Health operates the Ben Taub Hospital, which is staffed by the TCH-affiliated Baylor College of Medicine.
One can find Sima Ladjevardian at the center of the TCH-Harris-Baylor triangle. In 2022, while she was HHS regional director, she and Harris Health CEO Dr. Esmaeil Porsa presented a $1.1 million check to Baylor College of Medicine President and Executive Dean Paul Klotman.
Her political activities include serving as the Texas finance chair for the Kamala Harris and Joe Biden campaigns. In 2015, she hosted a fundraiser at her home for Hillary Clinton. Three years later, she and her husband were part of a small elite group invited to a gala with former President Barack Obama. The attendees, who each contributed six-figure sums to Obama’s think tank, raised over $5.4 million in one evening.
In 2020, Sima tried to unseat Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who more recently introduced legislation to pull funding from hospitals that offer medical mutilation for children. The TCH-affiliated Baylor College of Medicine, for whom she had raised funds, donated $16,613 to her war chest. Obama endorsed her.
Throughout her tenure as HHS regional director and during her failed campaign, Sima revealed herself to be a radical gender activist.
“I’ve been an ally of the LGBTQ+ community for all my life, and I’m honored to have the support of both the Human Rights Campaign and the Houston GLBT Caucus,” she said in an interview. “As this district’s first congresswoman, I will never stop fighting for equal protection under the law—and that begins with guaranteeing affordable, accessible healthcare for our LGBTQ community and for all Americans.”
Ali Ansari: Brother
Tina Ansari’s brother, Ali, also co-sponsored the swanky TCH fundraiser in May. Like Sima and his sister Tina, Ali Ansari is a member of the political elite. When he vacationed in Paris with Chelsea Clinton as a Stanford student in 2001, French media believed they were dating. When Sima hosted the 2015 fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Ali gave the closing remarks.
In October 2023, right after Tina Ansari sent agents to Dr. Haim’s home for the first time, her brother, Ali and his wife Niousha attended a TCH fundraiser hosted by TCH President Debbie Sukin, where they helped raise over $400,000 for the hospital. Ali is the president and CEO of Fresh Brew, a company he inherited from his father that sells coffee supplies to major hospitals like the MD Anderson Cancer Institute. He also has a contract with Harris Health, approved by the board of trustees where Sima sits. In September 2024, Ali and Fresh Brew were listed as a sponsor for a TCH fundraiser called Once Upon a Time Amrina 2024.
Mohammad Ladjevardian: Uncle
But the Ansari-Ladjevardian family’s connection to TCH stretches back to Mohammad Ladjevardian, Tina’s uncle who died last year. Mohammad, who came to the United States in 1970, became a wealthy business mogul with domestic and foreign investment interests. He served as a board member of several entities, including UNICEF, MD Anderson, and TCH, to which he also donated. Mohammad’s wife, Neda, also sat on MD Anderson’s Board of Visitors.
In 2016, Mohammad joined the board of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which is widely believed to be the political lobby for the Islamic Republic of Iran. He and other Iranian-American businessmen have consistently sent money back to Iran, which Mohammad said was for philanthropic reasons.
Tina Ansari: Ghost
Although surrounded by powerful, well-connected socialites, Tina Ansari appears to be a silent background figure. If she has attended any of the fundraisers or galas with the rest of her family, there is no record of it; if she shares any of her relatives’ connections to TCH, it fails to show. Searches for Tina Ansari on social media yield scarce results; even her LinkedIn account is absent a photo and activity. She is a virtual ghost.
Update
Recently, on November 21, 2024, Dr. Haim’s attorneys secured a big win for the defense when Tina Ansari was removed from Dr. Haim’s case, reportedly due to her conflicts of interest. On November 13th, Dr. Haim’s attorneys had sent a letter to the DOJ informing them of “serious ethical questions” concerning Ansari and these family ties to the Texas Medical Center.
