MAGA influencer Tim Ballard is facing a human trafficking lawsuit

MAGA influencer Tim Ballard, the self-described anti-sex trafficking activist who faced multiple sexual abuse allegations, has been hit with a federal lawsuit accusing him of human trafficking.

Ballard, a far-right conspiracy theorist, was the inspiration for last year’s QAnon-adjacent film “Sound of Freedom.” a fictionalized version of his group’s alleged anti-sex trafficking activities. It helped transform him into a MAGA hero, and into Trump said at a meeting in 2023, the film inspired some of his policy proposals.

Amid allegations that he forced several women to act as his “wives” and perform sex acts on him, Ballard said resigned last September from the Utah-based organization he founded, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). (Ballard went on to work for a separate anti-sex trafficking organization.) Several women indicted Ballard for sexual misconduct last year. He has vehemently denied the claims; some of the to take have been since then rejected, but others remain. He has been too the subject of several criminal investigations (The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office related New York Times in September it was aware of “ongoing criminal investigations into Tim Ballard”), but so far no charges have been filed.

Ballard filed a lawsuit for defamation against seven of his accusers earlier this month. Now six of them have filed another lawsuit over allegations Ballard of human trafficking.

In the court caseprosecutors allege that Ballard used a deceptive tactic known as the “matching trick” – introduced to them as a way to catch potential sex traffickers – to sexually exploit them.

“Under the guise of philanthropic missions or ‘operations’ aimed at rescuing women and children from human trafficking, Ballard used his position of influence and trust to exploit vulnerable individuals,” the indictment said. “Ballard specifically targeted women for sex, labor and other services in violation of federal anti-trafficking laws.” The lawsuit defines “the couple’s ruse” as “a deceptive strategy that required female officers to simulate intimate relationships with Ballard to allegedly fool traffickers.”

Prosecutors allege that Ballard increased his legitimacy in their eyes by introducing them to powerful social and political figures, such as Burgess Owens of Utah and right-wing commentator Glenn Beck, but that Ballard abused their trust to induce them to engage in sexual acts. force.

The suit continues:

The lawsuit alleges a pattern of disturbing behavior, alleging that Ballard would talk to the women about his wife’s reluctance to perform certain sexual acts with him due to her religious beliefs, and that he claimed these conversations were necessary to improve the pair’s ruse. The lawsuit accuses Ballard of coercing the women into sexual encounters by pressuring them to “practice” physical intimacy. It is also alleged that Ballard manipulated them by turning them against each other. The lawsuit alleges that texts between Ballard and some of the plaintiffs appear to blur the line between anti-trafficking work and a private sexual relationship. The pack also includes an audio fragment of Ballard’s attorney telling a judge that Ballard’s semen was on a prosecutor’s skirt because he masturbated into it.

A spokesperson for Operation Underground Railroad, which is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, told Fox 13 that the new allegations are “recycled claims that have been repeatedly dismissed. We are confident that they will be discharged again.” Ballard’s attorney echoed that response, saying his prosecutors have engaged in “desperate forum shopping” to repeat “the same allegations that one judge after another has called inconsistent and unsupported by facts.”

While all of this is playing out, let’s not ignore how bad this looks for the MAGA movement, which has made a habit of baselessly accusing liberals of “trimmers“And sex traffickers: One of the biggest peddlers of conspiracy theories about human trafficking is accused of human trafficking.