Tim Ballard, founder and former CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (via YouTube/KSTU). Inset: Actor Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Ballard in the movie “The Sound of Freedom,” appears on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” (via YouTube screengrab).
A man whose life story was turned into a movie that portrayed him as a hero to victims of sex trafficking is now himself accused of sexual abuse.
Tim Ballard, along with his organization Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), have been named in a civil lawsuit filed in Utah by five women who allege that they were sexually abused and groomed while volunteering for the self-described anti-human trafficking group. According to the lawsuit, Ballard, who founded O.U.R. in 2013, and the group organized “multiple sting operations to purportedly rescue trafficked women and children (‘OPS’)” that were little more than fantasy fulfillment.
“Many of these OPS included wealthy men with no military training, who wanted an ‘experience vacation’ where they dropped into third-world countries to rescue trafficked children, with photo opportunities and stories in the local newspapers of their heroics, all while flying first class,” says the complaint, filed in Utah state court.
While O.U.R. depicted the “missions” as “paramilitary drop-ins to arrest traffickers and rescue children,” the reality, according to the lawsuit, was completely different.
“[W]hat most OPS consisted of was going to strip clubs and massage parlors across the world, after flying first class to get there, and staying at 5-star hotels, on boats, and at VRBOs across the globe,” the lawsuit says.
In the process, the lawsuit says, women who volunteered with O.U.R. — which the lawsuit calls a “fund raising machine” and “more show than substance” — in the hopes of rescuing endangered children ended up being abused themselves.
As cover for his alleged abuse, Ballard deployed a program called “the couples ruse,” according to the lawsuit.
“Ballard claims that the couples ruse was an undercover tool to prevent detection by pedophiles when Ballard would not engage in sexual touching of the trafficked women offered up to him in strip clubs and massage parlors across the world,” the lawsuit explains.
After choosing a female O.U.R. volunteer to join him on a mission, Ballard would allegedly target her for sexual abuse, the lawsuit says.
“As part of either an OP or practice for the OP, Ballard would often share a bed with a woman posing as his girlfriend or invite her to shower in his bathroom, even though accommodations at designated ‘safe houses’ provided separate bedrooms and bathrooms,” the complaint says. Insisting that he needed to ensure that he and the volunteers had “chemistry,” Ballard allegedly “encouraged female operatives to participate in tantric massages before and while on a couples ruse.”
“Ballard claimed to be so concerned about the believability of the couples ruse that he frequently asked women to ‘practice’ their couples ruse long before a mission ever took place,” the complaint says. “To that end, Ballard flew women across the country, where they would ‘practice’ their sexual chemistry through tantric yoga, couples massages with escorts, and lap dancing on Ballard’s lap.”
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Ballard also “frequented strip clubs” with the volunteers in order to practice the ruse.
The complaint says Ballard “eventually used the ruse as a tool for sexual grooming,” and would often use “spiritual manipulation” to coerce the women — all of whom “are or were” members of the Mormon faith — into “sexual contact.”
The lawsuit also says that Ballard received guidance on where to find children in danger from an unusual source.
“In order to find and save trafficked children, Ballard would receive psychic information from psychic defendant Janet Russon about where the OPS should occur, along with reassurance and justification of everything Ballard did, while predicting the future situations the operatives would be in, so that they could plan the next OP,” the complaint says. “Ms. Russon claims that she spoke to a dead prophet named Nephi, who directed her about where to locate the trafficked children.”
The organization denies the allegations and implies the women are pushing the case in the court of public opinion.
“O.U.R. reached out multiple times to Ms. Rasmussen to engage with her and hear her client’s concerns, but she seemed intent on litigating her client’s issues in a public forum,” the group said in a statement, according to local Fox affiliate KSTU. “Now that O.U.R. has reviewed the Complaint, it categorically denies the allegations as they relate to O.U.R. Moreover, Ms. Rasmussen’s characterizations of the Board’s intentions and actions are entirely misguided and speculative. O.U.R. looks forward to the litigation process and is confident that the truth will prevail. O.U.R. has taken strong measures to ensure objectivity in every step of this process and it remains committed to doing so in order for the focus to return to the children as soon as possible. O.U.R. is confident in its future as the leading organization committed to combatting sex trafficking and saving children who have been captured and sold into slavery.”
Ballard and O.U.R. parted ways last month after a Vice News report about the sexual misconduct allegations.
Ballard was portrayed by actor Jim Caviezel in the movie “The Sound of Freedom,” which purported to depict a fictionalized version of Ballard as a former Homeland Security agent who goes on a mission to rescue children from a Colombian trafficking ring. The movie was a financial success, but it was also criticized for leaning into conspiracy theories and misleading depictions of child and human trafficking. O.U.R. itself has been accused of employing questionable tactics and overstating the impact of its rescue missions.
Caviezel himself has amplified unsupported conspiracy theories about the existence of a cabal of Hollywood insiders and Democrats who harvest hormones from children, largely embraced by QAnon adherents and followers.
Read the complaint, via local ABC affiliate KTVX, below.
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