Sound of Freedom anti-sex trafficking "hero" charged with sex crimes – Daily Kos

This summer, a movie unheralded in the mainstream, Sound of Freedom, became the sleeper hit of 2023. It tells the story of Tim Ballard, an ex-federal employee, who founded the nonprofit Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), whose mission was to tackle international sex traffickers.

Despite average reviews, the movie became a smash hit among Christians and other conservatives concerned about child sex trafficking. Christian megastar and erstwhile screen Jesus, Jim Caviezel, played Ballard. The movie made over $180 million domestically and another $50 million internationally.

Since founding the organization in 2013, Ballard has credited OUR with rescuing thousands of trafficking victims. He became prominent in conservative Christian circles and testified in Congress. Trump invited him to join a White House anti-trafficking advisory board.

But this veneer of a concerned citizen hid a morally bankrupt predator. Five women who worked with him to fight sex crimes have sued him for sexual assault and emotional abuse. Their lawsuit says.

Defendant Ballard, intentionally, knowingly or recklessly, committed battery and sexual assault of Plaintiffs, as all sexual touching was done under the Couples Ruse in order to help save trafficked children and women

He also faces a second suit on similar grounds. All of this occurring on the heels of his resignation from OUR after rumors of his sexual aggression hit the streets in August.

Ballards technique was simple. Using the so-called couples ruse, he invited his victims to pose as his wife to fool traffickers during rescue missions. He then coerced them into sharing a bed or showering together. The lawsuit states,

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 30-page lawsuit continues: Ballard soon began abusing the couples ruse and eventually used the ruse as a tool for sexual grooming and used his relationships to coerce the women into sexual contact.

Is anyone surprised?

Ballard has more arrows in his MAGA quiver. He and supporters of OUR have been accused of promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Ballard denied it. He claimed the charge was made to discredit him and the film.

He damaged his case when, in an interview with Jordan Peterson (need I say more?), he claimed to have raided a West African baby factory, where children were sold for organ harvesting and Satanic ritual abuse, echoing a QAnon theory.

To add a financial crimeangle to the sordid affair, one of the film's executive producers pled guilty to defrauding Medicare of $89 million in 2020.

Caviezel also subscribes to the QAnon madness. At a 2021 event promoting the film, he claimed traffickers were harvesting adrenaline from children.

On a side note, Sound of Freedom garnered a respectable 7.8 rating on IMDB. However, if you analyze the breakdown, 58.1% of the raters gave it a 10. This enthusiasm does not reflect an honest appraisal of the film's merits the #1 IMDB-rated movie, The Shawshank Redemption (9.3), scored only 55.0% perfect scores. Instead, it speaks to the uncritical enthusiasm of zealots promoting propaganda and wishful thinking as a true story.

In the same way as they do with their fundamentalist version of religion.

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Sound of Freedom anti-sex trafficking "hero" charged with sex crimes - Daily Kos