The man whose story served as inspiration for the controversial anti-human trafficking thriller Sound of Freedomquietly left his organization after a sexual misconduct investigation involving at least seven women, according to Vice News. Sources familiar with the matter told the outlet that the so-called activist Tim Ballard, portrayed by Jim Cavaziel onscreen, allegedly pressured women to share a bed or take showers with him—under the guise of it being necessary to fool real child traffickers during rescue missions. Ballard allegedly sent at least one woman a photo of himself in his underwear and asked her “how far she was willing to go,” as one source put it. The total number of Ballard’s alleged victims is believed to be higher than seven, as the investigation only accounted for employees of Operation Underground Railroad, the discredited charity that Ballard departed this summer. Vice reported in July that Ballard’s exit was in response to an anonymous letter regarding his employees’ claims against him, though the exact nature of those claims was not clear at the time. A spokesperson for the organization said that Ballard was “permanently separated from O.U.R.” and that a third party had been retained to conduct an investigation “of all relevant allegations.”
