Last updated: 14 November 2025 14:15
Tim Ballard in the News
Tim Ballard, founder and former CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) and subject of the movie The Sound of Freedom, has been in the news lately. Here are some answers to common questions about him.
Question: How is Tim Ballard associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”)?
Answer: Tim Ballard is a former member of the Church. Neither he, any organization he represents, nor the film about him have any relationship with the Church beyond that. Tim Ballard has had a personal friendship with Church leader M. Russell Ballard for a few years (Tim Ballard and Russell Ballard are not related; their shared name is a coincidence). He has confirmed his excommunication from the Church in multiple video messages, though the Church itself typically makes no announcements of excommunicated members.
Question: Why did the Church make an official statement about Tim Ballard?
Answer: The online publication Vice was preparing an article about Tim Ballard and asked the Church for comment, which is standard practice among journalists.
Question: Why would Vice’s article about Tim Ballard require comment from the Church if Ballard doesn’t have any affiliation with the Church beyond ordinary membership?
Answer: Vice’s reporting involved the Church. It included claims that Tim Ballard had implied or outright stated that President M. Russell Ballard had endorsed or even officially partnered with Tim Ballard in some OUR and for-profit endeavors. The Vice article also addressed allegations of sexual assault and coercion against Tim Ballard, for which the accusers claimed he also had approval from President Ballard. These claims are untrue. The Church has to be clear its leaders don’t engage in such associations, or approve of sinful behavior, so the Church made the statement to Vice.
Question: What was Vice’s source for the claim that Tim Ballard told people he was approved by President M. Russell Ballard?
Answer: From about 2020 until 2023, a County Attorney (prosecutor) in Davis County, Utah investigated Operation Underground Railroad. The goal of the investigation was to see if criminal fraud charges should be filed against OUR. In 2023, that investigation was closed with no charges filed. Vice obtained the documents generated by that investigation through a public records request. The documents include research and interviews conducted by the County Attorney’s office. Additionally, five women filed a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct against Tim Ballard. Vice News reported on the legal filings, and later spoke with some of the women personally. More accusers later filed separate lawsuits alleging similar misconduct. Eventually, a total of five cases were filed with at least seven accusers.
Question: What fraud was OUR alleged to have committed?
Answer: The Davis county attorney was apparently concerned OUR was using inflated or false claims in order to convince supporters to donate money to OUR.
Question: If the investigation was closed without charges, doesn’t that mean OUR and Tim Ballard didn’t do anything wrong?
Answer: The investigation didn’t result in criminal charges, but that doesn’t mean anything in the documents is false. It also doesn’t mean they’re true, although the investigators tried to collect true information to build their possible case. The documents are public record and fair game for journalists. The information in them may or may not be corroborated by journalists or other interested parties.
Question: What did the women accuse Tim Ballard of doing to them?
Answer: Each woman’s story was somewhat different, but the allegations ranged from sexual assault to using manipulation tactics and pressure to lure women into bed with him. One woman was suing for negligence due to being injured during a training class for OUR. Another claimed intimidation and witness tampering because she alleged OUR and Ballard lied about trafficking victims she personally worked with, then harassed her when she tried to speak up. One woman filed a court motion claiming that Tim Ballard’s DNA was left on her skirt after the alleged assault, and that it was authenticated by the Utah State Crime Lab. Ballard’s attorney effectively confirmed it was his DNA by saying that Ballard instead was in the company of an escort and became so aroused that he engaged in self-stimulation. The attorney claimed the woman’s skirt was on the floor in the room where Ballard and the escort were, which is how the DNA came to land on it during this episode.
Question: What were the results of the lawsuits?
Answer: Three lawsuits have been dismissed on procedural grounds: one for improperly obtained evidence; one because the intimidation allegations did not rise to the level of the outrageous and intolerable conduct that was alleged; and one alleging negligence and injury was dismissed because the individual signed a waiver releasing OUR and Ballard from liability. The other two cases, including the one with the five women, are still working their way through pretrial litigation. Tim Ballard countersued seven of his accusers for defamation.
Question: Is Vice a reputable or trustworthy source for journalism?
Answer: Vice is often considered to be biased against political conservatism and religious beliefs. But they are a major publication, listed on aggregators like Google News and cited by other news organizations like the Washington Post. And there’s nothing illegitimate about reporting on public records from an investigation. Other news outlets should also be able to obtain the documents and confirm or dispute Vice’s reporting.
Question: Why would the Church even respond to an outlet like Vice when asked for a comment?
Answer: Because the allegations were so serious, and based on public records. According to Vice’s article, Tim Ballard told others “OUR and his personal business ventures were backed by [President M. Russell Ballard], and part of a larger mission to use the anti-trafficking cause to bring Americans to the Mormon faith.” Moreover, Tim Ballard allegedly consulted “a psychic who claimed to be able to communicate with the prophet Nephi” and claimed to have President M. Russell Ballard’s approval to do so, and that President Ballard was personally involved in planning OUR rescue missions. The Church couldn’t allow such false claims to go unrebutted in a major publication.
Question: How can we be certain the Church’s alleged statement to Vice was legitimate?
Answer: Vice produces slanted opinion journalism, but it is still subject to defamation laws. Fabricating a statement from the Church in order to harm Tim Ballard would put Vice at risk of serious legal liability, and therefore it’s unlikely to have happened. Moreover, other outlets including the Church-owned Deseret News have confirmed the Church’s statement. One outlet reports the statement came from Doug Anderson, Church Director of Media Relations, from his official Church email address.
Question: Isn’t it unusual for the Church to speak against a specific individual like this?
Answer: It’s not common, but has happened multiple times before. John Dehlin, Julie Rowe, Ammon Bundy, and Sam Young are recent examples.
Question: But there are other cases where members of the Church have committed truly reprehensible crimes, but never got a specific denunciation by the Church’s public affairs officials.
Answer: Journalists routinely ask the Church for comment on various cases, and the Church can always simply point them to existing statements and teachings condemning such behavior. This is different because Tim Ballard was allegedly, and persuasively, claiming Church endorsement for his organization and his fundraising. Moreover, Tim Ballard has a national and even international platform via his recent film and his rumored Senate candidacy. The Church couldn’t simply direct journalists to existing statements because it is very much in favor of rescuing children from child trafficking. It had to make a very clear statement disclaiming a relationship with Tim Ballard because of the unique factors in this situation.
Question: Is it true there were previously articles on the Church website about Tim Ballard that have now been taken down?
Answer: Yes. Tim Ballard was profiled for his anti-trafficking work, just as many other church members are routinely highlighted when they’re accomplishing important and interesting work. Taking down the webpage doesn’t completely erase its existence because of web archive services, but it still makes the important point that the Church does not endorse or affiliate with Ballard.
Question: The Church’s statement to Vice condemned Tim Ballard for “unauthorized use of President Ballard’s name for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable.” What is his morally unacceptable behavior?
Answer: It refers to the sexual assault and coercion claims made by the women mentioned above. It could also refer to Tim Ballard allegedly consulting a “psychic” while under the influence of illicit drugs, both of which are against Church teachings. It also could refer to allegations that Tim Ballard has misrepresented some of the child rescues he claims to have made. Or it could refer to additional actions that President M. Russell Ballard knew about but which haven’t been made public.
Question: Why does Vice care about Tim Ballard?
Answer: Vice has been writing about Tim Ballard since 2020, criticizing his methods and claims about rescuing children. We cannot speak to whether those criticisms are legitimate. More immediately, last week several outlets reported Tim Ballard intends to run for the Senate now that Mitt Romney is retiring. Therefore Tim Ballard’s background will be scrutinized by many journalists and rival political campaigns.
Question: Shouldn’t we all just get along for the sake of saving children who are being trafficked?
Answer: That would be ideal. But it’s important for the Church to protect its leadership and influence from being improperly used. And it’s unfair to accuse anyone who has concerns or questions about Tim Ballard of being in favor of child trafficking. Fighting trafficking is complicated and can cause unintended consequences. There are differing schools of thought as to what the best practices are. Love and concern for all God’s children does not require placing complete confidence in one particular person or organization.
Question: Did church leaders provide OUR with the tithing records of potential donors?
Answer: Church spokesman Doug Andersen denied the allegation in a statement on November 6. “President Ballard has never released tithing records to Operation Underground Railroad or any other organization,” the church spokesman said. Read more about that here.
Question: What about the new allegations Tim Ballard is making against the Church?
Answer: Tim Ballard is back in the news in 2025 with new allegations against the Church and some high up in the ranks of Church leadership. He has alleged that he was “falsely” excommunicated and “defamed” by Church officials who were engaged in a wide-ranging “conspiracy” to prevent him from becoming a United States Senator. He calls this supposed conspiracy the “Deep Church,” and claims that “children are literally being beaten and bloodied by ISIS and traffickers” because of the “lies” included in the Church’s statement against his behavior. He claims he was not given “due process” in his excommunication hearing, which something granted by the federal government, not Church membership councils. He also announced a docuseries titled “BackFire: The Excommunication of Tim Ballard” to be released in the near future, as well as a documentary called “Hidden Wars.”
Ballard has also been referring to “lukewarm Watchmen” on his social media accounts (here is one example), suggesting that there are corrupted “elites” inside Church leadership that will need to be to “cleansed and pruned” from the vineyard that is Christ’s Church. In another video, he claimed he heard a voice from heaven telling him to “deliver the rights” to the Church (it is assumed he meant “rites,” a solemn religious ordinance).
During an appearance on the Julie Green Ministries podcast on October 7, 2025, Ballard claimed that the Church paid $10 million to halt an anti-child-trafficking bill Ballard was trying to push through Congress. He also claimed the Church was covering up Satanic ritual child abuse and that leaders set out to destroy his reputation to cover it up. He referred to Church leaders as “Pharisees,” and openly wondered whether any Church officials prayed to ask the Savior to help them lie in order to outsmart the Savior’s own attempts to uncover child trafficking. Among many other claims, he then suggested the Church should be the subject of a RICO case (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), an act created to dismantle criminal organizations such as the mob.
Question: Is there any truth to any of these allegations?
Answer: No. The Church does not normally discuss membership restrictions or withdrawals in the press. This means that the individual involved is able to make whatever claims they would like about the process or results. In early 1844, William Law, Joseph Smith’s former second counselor in the First Presidency, made similar claims about the lack of “due process,” and his excommunication stood. “Due process” is granted by the federal government to those accused of a crime. It is not granted by the Church during a membership council. Though it is typical for a person to bring witnesses or supporters, the stake president presides over the meeting as he is moved to by the Spirit.
There has been no actual evidence presented to back up the claim that Church leaders were engaged in any kind of conspiracy to derail Ballard’s political career or his efforts to help trafficked children. Ballard’s “evidence” supporting his claims of ritual child abuse come from the long-discredited Pace Memo, released during the Satanic Panic hoax of the 1980s–1990s. There is no credible evidence to back up the claims that the Church is covering widespread sexual abuse of children, that it is akin to a criminal organization, or that the Lord is displeased with how His Church is being run here on Earth.
If He was displeased, those warnings would go through His prophets and apostles, the men called to lead His Church. God is a God of order, and He does not break His established patterns and reveal Church-wide revelation to those without proper priesthood authority, keys, and stewardship. Tim Ballard is attempting to exceed his stewardship. It is not his role to call the Church or its leaders to repentance. That role belongs only to the Lord and His prophets.
