The man at the center of 'Sound of Freedom' abruptly leaves group he founded
The former federal agent whose anti-trafficking exploits inspired a hotly debated film that became an unexpected box-office hit this month has parted ways with the controversial organization he founded.
Tim Ballard has "recently stepped away" from Operation Underground Railroad, the group said in a statement.
Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security agent who has helped stage sting operations to catch child sex traffickers, left OUR before "Sound of Freedom" hit theaters, the organization said. Vice News first reported his exit earlier Thursday.
The news of Ballard's exit comes barely more than a week after "Sound of Freedom" - a dramatized retelling of Ballard's anti-trafficking efforts - nearly outearned Disney blockbuster "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" on July 4, and just a week before a planned screening by former president Donald Trump.
The film has since become a hot-button discussion point for critics, conspiracy theories and major movie studios for twisting facts about child exploitation and tipping its hat to QAnon conspiracy theorists.
Ballard has not mentioned his exit during press interviews for "Sound of Freedom," a gritty yet inspirational film that shares Ballard's story of rescuing a brother and sister lured into a trafficking ring. In the film, Ballard, played by "Passion of the Christ" star Jim Caviezel, risks his life on a journey through Colombia to rescue the children from the lethal crime syndicate.
The film has earned about $50 million, much of it through a "pay it forward" system created by the film's distributor, Angel Studios, that allows moviegoers to buy tickets for other people to see the movie.
Its success inspired Trump to host a planned screening at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., on Wednesday with both Caviezel and Ballard in attendance. The former president appointed Ballard to a State Department advisory council on human trafficking in 2019, which he was on until it disbanded in 2020.
Operation Underground Railroad, which Ballard founded in 2013, has been criticized for some of its claims and tactics, with some critics saying the organization exaggerates its successes. In Utah, the Davis County Attorney's Office spent more than two years investigating OUR for alleged communications fraud, witness tampering and retaliation, according to the Deseret News. The investigations ended with no charges in May.
Vice News reported in 2020 that Operation Underground Railroad's rescue claims contained "a pattern of image-burnishing and mythology-building, a series of exaggerations that are, in the aggregate, quite misleading."
"Sound of Freedom" has also generated controversy because of Caviezel's support for elements of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that a sinister cabal of world elites preys on sex-trafficked children. While the movie doesn't mention QAnon, Caviezel has falsely claimed that Ballard rescues children from "adrenochroming," a fictitious technique in which QAnon believers think children are tortured in satanic rituals.
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The Washington Post's Will Sommer contributed to this report.
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