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Tim Ballard

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Tim Ballard
Born
Provo, Utah, United States
EducationLa Cañada High School
Brigham Young University
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Occupation
  • CEO, author, law enforcement
Known forOperation Underground Railroad
Spouse(s)Katherine Ballard
(m. 199?)
Children9
Websitewww.timothyballard.com

Timothy Ballard is an American anti-human trafficking activist and author. He is the founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), CEO of The Nazarene Fund[1] and the author of several books.[2][3] Ballard has credited his organization with rescuing thousands of trafficking victims.[citation needed] The 2023 American action film Sound of Freedom starring Jim Caviezel was inspired by the work of Ballard.[4]

O.U.R. was the subject of an investigation by the Davis County Attorney's office.[5] According to a declination statement obtained by the Deseret News, the attorney’s office, after concluding their 2 1/2 year investigation, chose not to pursue any potential charges against O.U.R.[6] Ballard has faced criticism for broadcasting raids without regards for victim privacy.[7][8]

Ballard has testified before the United States Congress and has recommended procedures and practices for rescuing children from trafficking rings.[9]

Biography

Schooling

After growing up in California, Ballard attended Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.[10] As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he went on a church mission to Chile and then graduated cum laude from BYU with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and political science. He graduated summa cum laude from the Monterey Institute of International Studies with a Master of Arts in international politics.[11][non-primary source needed]

Founding O.U.R.

In 2013, Ballard founded the non-profit organization Operation Underground Railroad, or O.U.R.[12] He has briefed politicians on the issue of child sex trafficking, including President Donald Trump in January 2019.[13][14][15][16][17][excessive citations]

Ballard trained Imperial County Sheriff’s Office personnel in the use of data mining software that led to the arrest of a man suspected of distributing child pornography.[18]

Testifying before Congress

On May 14, 2015, Ballard was asked to testify before the United States Congress. The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Human Rights held a hearing on the partnerships between U.S. government and non-governmental organizations that rescue trafficking victims.[19] On March 6, 2019, Ballard was called to testify before the US Senate Judiciary Committee concerning US-Mexico border security and its relation to child sex trafficking.[20][21]

Presidential appointment

In 2019 Ballard was appointed to the White House Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking.[22] The Council was terminated on September 30, 2020.[23]

Media

In 2016, The Abolitionists, a documentary produced by Gerald Molen, featured the first operations undertaken by Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.[24] Another documentary from director Nick Nanton, Operation Toussaint, was produced in 2018 which featured an operation in Haiti that had the support of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and former US congresswoman Mia Love of Utah.[14] A feature film about Ballard's life, Sound of Freedom, starring Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, and Eduardo Verástegui was announced in 2018.[25][26] The 2018 documentary, Operation Toussaint, and the 2020 documentary, Triple Take, were also based on Ballard's work against sex trafficking.[27][28]

ESPN featured Ballard and Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin in a piece which highlighted the restavek issue near the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.[29] Tomlin would also write the foreword to Ballard's book Slave Stealers: True Accounts of Slave Rescues – Then and Now.[30][31][32]

A 2020 Vice News investigation found that the organization employed "a pattern of image-burnishing and mythology-building, a series of exaggerations that are, in the aggregate, quite misleading". For instance, O.U.R. claimed that it rescued a woman named "Liliana", however, Ballard testified in court that she engineered her own escape and his organization was currently caring for her.[33] The organization's spending also lacks transparency.[34] A 2021 follow-up article further criticized O.U.R.'s practices, which included using inexperienced donors and celebrities as part of its "jump team", a lack of meaningful surveillance or identification of targets, failing to validate whether the people they intended to rescue were in fact actual trafficking victims, and conflating consensual sex work with sex trafficking.[citation needed]

Ballard and supporters of O.U.R. have been criticized for promoting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory.[35][36][37]

Criminal Investigation

In October 2020, the Attorney's Office of Davis County, Utah stated that O.U.R. and Tim Ballard were under criminal investigation regarding complaints that O.U.R. had conducted illegal fundraising efforts.[38][39][40] Investigative journalists Anna Merlan and Tim Marchmann for Vice News confirmed reports by investigative journalist Lynn Packer and Damion Moore of American Crime Journal of a meeting held in August 2019, where Ballard summoned officers and managers of his non-profit and for-profit businesses, including several from Operation Underground Railroad.[41] At the meeting he presented in detail a criminal conspiracy to launder donor money from non-profits into his for-profit businesses.[38][42]

Awards

In 2017, Ballard won the 2017 Social Entrepreneur Award at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2017 Utah Region Awards.[43]

References

  1. ^ "FAQ'S – The Nazarene Fund". The Nazarene Fund. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  2. ^ "Founder, CEO of Operation Underground Railroad to speak at UVU". DeseretNews.com. October 7, 2016. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  3. ^ "Crossfit OUR". Crossfit OUR. Archived from the original on July 15, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  4. ^ Jurgensen, John (July 2, 2023). "A Child-Trafficking Thriller Is Taking on Hollywood. Who's Behind It?". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  5. ^ Hartman, Taylor. "Claims of Utah group's involvement in child exploitation investigations under scrutiny". standard.net. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  6. ^ Tomco, Brigham. "Davis County Attorney's Office closes investigation into Operation Underground Railroad". Deseret News. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  7. ^ "Hunting for sex-traffickers abroad". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  8. ^ "The Hypocrisy of Trump's Anti-Trafficking Argument for a Border Wall". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  9. ^ "Hearing Sex Trafficking Victims, May 14 2015". C-SPAN.org. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  10. ^ Armstrong, Jamie (October 18, 2018). "Rescuing Children from Sex Slavery: One Mormon's Inspired Mission". LDS Living. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  11. ^ "The Team". Operation Underground Railroad. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  12. ^ Hanson, Kurt. "Operation Underground Railroad: Saves lives in ways most can't". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  13. ^ Dinan, Stephen (February 1, 2019). "Border security expert: 'The wall rescued this little boy'". The Washington Times. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  14. ^ a b Armstrong, Jamie (June 2, 2017). "LDS Congresswoman, Operation Underground Railroad Founder Meet with President of Haiti to Address Human Trafficking". LDS Living. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  15. ^ Aguirre, Alberto (June 13, 2019). "El amigou de doña Olga". El Economista (in Spanish). Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  16. ^ Toone, Trent (October 26, 2017). "Operation Underground Railroad's Tim Ballard meets with Ivanka Trump, politicians regarding human trafficking". Deseret News. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  17. ^ "Timothy Ballard: "I've Fought Sex Trafficking as a DHS Special Agent – We Need to Build the Wall for the Children"". whitehouse.gov. January 30, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via National Archives.
  18. ^ "Tech startup Operation Underground Railroad is saving kids from human traffickers". VentureBeat. April 26, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  19. ^ "Hearing: Sex Trafficking Victims". C-SPAN. May 14, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  20. ^ "Watch: Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearing on human trafficking at U.S. southern border". PBS NewsHour. March 6, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  21. ^ "Oversight of Customs and Border Protection's Response to the Smuggling of Persons at the Southern Border". U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  22. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. October 29, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2020 – via National Archives.
  23. ^ "Biographic Information for Members of the Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  24. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 1, 2015). "'Abolitionists' Documentary Series About Rescuing Kids From Sex Slavery Shopped". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  25. ^ Bond, Paul (September 6, 2016). "Child Sex Trafficking Explored in New Doc 'Abolitionists' (Exclusive Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  26. ^ Bond, Paul (June 15, 2018). "Blockchain Platform TaTaTu to Co-Finance 'Sound of Freedom'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  27. ^ Terry, Josh (July 26, 2018). "Movie review: Gripping 'Operation Toussaint' shows Tim Ballard's real-life battle against sex trafficking". Deseret News.
  28. ^ Briccetti, Peter (July 30, 2020). "Operation Triple Take Fails to Address Systemic Issues with Child Sex-Trafficking". Whistleblower Network News.
  29. ^ Fowler, Jeremy (November 2, 2017). "Mike Tomlin, Steelers partner with anti-sex-trafficking initiative". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  30. ^ Varley, Teresa (August 3, 2018). "Tomlin helping to tell a tough story". Steelers.com. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  31. ^ Fittipaldo, Ray (August 3, 2008). "Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are doing their part to end child sex trafficking". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  32. ^ "Mike Tomlin Authors Foreward For New Book Focusing On Fight Against Human Trafficking". KDKA-TV. August 3, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  33. ^ "Tim Ballard Written Testimony" (PDF). U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. March 5, 2019.
  34. ^ Merlan, Anna & Marchman, Tim (November 12, 2020). "A Famed Anti-Sex Trafficking Group Has a Problem With the Truth". Vice.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  35. ^ Roose, Kevin (August 12, 2020). "QAnon Followers Are Hijacking the #SaveTheChildren Movement". The New York Times.
  36. ^ Steadman, Otillia (April 23, 2021). "Donald Trump Is Gone, But QAnon's Sex Trafficking Conspiracies Are Here To Stay". BuzzFeed News.
  37. ^ Bixenspan, David (September 29, 2020). "WWE Referee, Wrestler-Turned-Mayor Fundraise For QAnon-Adjacent Charity". Vice.com.
  38. ^ a b Herbets, Adam & Carlisle, Nate (October 8, 2020). "Anti-human trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad under criminal investigation by Utah prosecutor". KSTU.
  39. ^ Herbets, Adam (October 10, 2020). "Anti-human-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad under investigation". Cedar City News.
  40. ^ "Breaking News: Anti-human trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad under criminal investigation by Davis County Attorney". American Crime Journal. October 8, 2020.
  41. ^ Merlan, Anna & Marchman, Tim (October 6, 2021). "Operation Underground Railroad's Carefully Crafted Public Image Is Falling Apart". Vice.com.
  42. ^ Packer, Lynn (March 22, 2021). "Tim Ballard's Secret "Whiteboard Meeting" in August 2019". American Crime Journal.
  43. ^ "Ballard, Utah Region, 2017". EY Hall of Fame.
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