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He achieved fame by going undercover to rescue children from sex trafficking, even inspiring a movie about his supposed heroism. Now Tim Ballard is being accused of sexual assault and harassment.

On Monday, five women filed a lawsuit against the founder of an anti-child-trafficking group, claiming that he sexually manipulated, abused and harassed them on overseas trips designed to lure and catch child sex traffickers.

Ballard’s life story and work with Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) inspired Sound of Freedom, a 2023 film popular with conservative moviegoers, which became increasingly controversial as the truth of OUR’s operations came to light.

We covered the convoluted controversy of the film in July.

Through OUR, Ballard travelled overseas to rescue women and children who were the victims of sex trafficking, and it is during these sting operations that the women claim they were coerced into sexual acts. According to the lawsuit, Ballard used a tactic called the “couples ruse” to fool traffickers by pretending he and a female partner, who travelled with him, were a married couple.

The BBC reports that as a Mormon, the lawsuit claims, Ballard kept to a strict set of rules while undercover, like “no kissing on the lips and no touching or exposing of private parts”, but says that over time this changed.

Mr Ballard began to use his religion and “spiritual manipulation to coerce [the women, also Mormons] into sexual contact”, the lawsuit alleges.

Under the “couples ruse”, according to the lawsuit, Mr Ballard “engaged in a ploy where he would tell the women that if they were offered alcohol, which is forbidden by the Mormon church, that she should take the drink and then open mouth, kiss him and spit the alcohol in his mouth, and then he would spit it out when the traffickers weren’t looking”.

It’s anyone’s guess if such an elaborate ploy even works.

His conservative paranoia was also used to further his closeness with the women, with claims that include how Ballard pressured the women to share a bed and shower with him on sting operations, and coerced sex acts from them, purportedly “to maintain the appearance of a romantic relationship at all times” to avoid making sex traffickers suspicious of them potentially spying.

The lawsuit claims that the women were also expected to “practice” their “sexual chemistry” with tantric yoga, couple’s massages with escorts and performing lap dances on Ballard while on these cross-country trips, ABC News reports:

While promotional materials portrayed the group’s overseas missions as “paramilitary drop-ins to arrest traffickers and rescue children,” they mostly involved “going to strip clubs and massage parlors across the world, after flying first class to get there, and staying at five-star hotels, on boats, and at VRBOs (vacation rentals by owner) across the globe,” the lawsuit alleges.

Quite the ploy to live the high life.

The women were eventually subjected to “coerced sexual contact,” including “several sexual acts with the exception of actual penetration, in various states of undress,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also claims that OUR tried to silence these victims. Ballard has resigned from the non-profit following the damning allegations pitted against him.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also rebuked Ballard, accusing him of exploiting his friendship with a Mormon leader, M Russell Ballard (no relation), for personal advantage.

[source:bbc]