Anyone who is even remotely surprised by this information has had their head in the ground for the past few decades.
“On OUR missions, men posed as sex tourists or those supplying customers with underage victims to entrap the traffickers. But the men were not supposed to actually touch the victims themselves. (This was the principle, at least: The criminal investigation into OUR found that one operative, who was also an executive producer of Sound of Freedom, touched the naked breasts of an apparently underage trafficking victim during a 2016 undercover operation.) The “couples ruse” was OUR’s tactic of having a “jealous girlfriend” present with the man posing as a sex tourist to object to his inquiries in order to deflect suspicion from the undercover men.
But, according to the lawsuit, Ballard demanded that his female partners in this ruse show full commitment. He seemed to believe—or at least said he believed—that to be convincing, the two would have to act as a very “kinky” and highly sexual couple, unable to keep their hands off one another. And so to prove they would be right for the roles, the women would have to convince him that they would have “chemistry.”
To do so, they would “act out” that chemistry, privately. Ballard had two rules for the ruse: no kissing on the lips, and no touching or exposing genitals. But everything else was fair game. Ballard would grope the women. He would order them to strip and give him lap dances and prove they could “turn him on.” One woman recalled that in his first test of whether she would be a fit for the ruse, he pushed her up against the office door, grinding on her. The incident ended as someone walked in while he was trying to undo her jeans.
Worse, to many of these women, were the “practices.” At least a couple of the women were actresses who assured Ballard they could play a role when needed. But Ballard would insist on practicing the ruse anyway, often in strip clubs, where he would make the women act out their sexual personas. And separately, to really prepare for their “sexual chemistry,” he would arrange for the two of them to have tantric yoga sessions and couple’s massages with escorts.
And to get in the right mindset, he would discuss their sexual interests and histories. These women were almost all members of the Church of Latter-day Saints, and one of the women recalled that she had never before uttered the word that Ballard once demanded she say to him. (One of the oddest details of the lawsuit relates to the Latter-day Saints’ prohibition on alcohol. Per the filing, he told the women that if they were offered a drink, they should take it, “open-mouth kiss him and spit the alcohol into his mouth, and then he would spit it out when the traffickers were not looking.” In reality, Ballard, the lawsuit reported, drank tequila to excess.)
But at times, Ballard seemed to slip and forget that OUR’s missions were the professed reason for all of it. He consumed alcohol and drugs at the “practices.” He told the women he found them attractive and demanded that the women tell him the same. He would acknowledge his own arousal. He expressed frustration and rejection when the women did not respond to his touch. He told the women that the role would improve their marriages, that it “helped keep your relationships more exciting,” as one recalled. “Tim spent very little time explaining the missions and the targets and the victims and an excess amount of time discussing sexual things,” one woman recalled.
One woman testified that she was told, in a text message, that in order to be prepared for a mission, she would have to accept certain possibilities: That he would have to touch her, under a swimsuit, in a hot tub, or that they would have to shower together. After one practice in which he admitted to his own arousal, she left, realizing that he was not actually planning on taking her on a mission. “I had been used and played,” she said in her testimony.
During the actual missions, Ballard insisted that they stay completely in character. Some of these women recalled Ballard groping them even when they were alone or in a car with tinted windows; Ballard would assure them that the traffickers could still be watching them. He would have the women share beds with him. He would insist on nudity. And he acted out sex acts with them, often over the women’s protests. (“Ballard developed a sexual position where it appeared he was having full-on sexual intercourse with his couples ruse victims, while not actually penetrating,” the lawsuit said.)”
Not fucking surprised at all.
Religious nuts through and through always pull shit like this.
wow you can really just look at some people and just know, huh
Boy, all the people that were pushing this movie and saying everyone needed to see it haven’t said a word about these revelations. Weird.
Not.
r/boxoffice making a point to ignore this as much as possible.
6 comments
Anyone who is even remotely surprised by this information has had their head in the ground for the past few decades.
“On OUR missions, men posed as sex tourists or those supplying customers with underage victims to entrap the traffickers. But the men were not supposed to actually touch the victims themselves. (This was the principle, at least: The criminal investigation into OUR found that one operative, who was also an executive producer of Sound of Freedom, touched the naked breasts of an apparently underage trafficking victim during a 2016 undercover operation.) The “couples ruse” was OUR’s tactic of having a “jealous girlfriend” present with the man posing as a sex tourist to object to his inquiries in order to deflect suspicion from the undercover men.
But, according to the lawsuit, Ballard demanded that his female partners in this ruse show full commitment. He seemed to believe—or at least said he believed—that to be convincing, the two would have to act as a very “kinky” and highly sexual couple, unable to keep their hands off one another. And so to prove they would be right for the roles, the women would have to convince him that they would have “chemistry.”
To do so, they would “act out” that chemistry, privately. Ballard had two rules for the ruse: no kissing on the lips, and no touching or exposing genitals. But everything else was fair game. Ballard would grope the women. He would order them to strip and give him lap dances and prove they could “turn him on.” One woman recalled that in his first test of whether she would be a fit for the ruse, he pushed her up against the office door, grinding on her. The incident ended as someone walked in while he was trying to undo her jeans.
Worse, to many of these women, were the “practices.” At least a couple of the women were actresses who assured Ballard they could play a role when needed. But Ballard would insist on practicing the ruse anyway, often in strip clubs, where he would make the women act out their sexual personas. And separately, to really prepare for their “sexual chemistry,” he would arrange for the two of them to have tantric yoga sessions and couple’s massages with escorts.
And to get in the right mindset, he would discuss their sexual interests and histories. These women were almost all members of the Church of Latter-day Saints, and one of the women recalled that she had never before uttered the word that Ballard once demanded she say to him. (One of the oddest details of the lawsuit relates to the Latter-day Saints’ prohibition on alcohol. Per the filing, he told the women that if they were offered a drink, they should take it, “open-mouth kiss him and spit the alcohol into his mouth, and then he would spit it out when the traffickers were not looking.” In reality, Ballard, the lawsuit reported, drank tequila to excess.)
But at times, Ballard seemed to slip and forget that OUR’s missions were the professed reason for all of it. He consumed alcohol and drugs at the “practices.” He told the women he found them attractive and demanded that the women tell him the same. He would acknowledge his own arousal. He expressed frustration and rejection when the women did not respond to his touch. He told the women that the role would improve their marriages, that it “helped keep your relationships more exciting,” as one recalled. “Tim spent very little time explaining the missions and the targets and the victims and an excess amount of time discussing sexual things,” one woman recalled.
One woman testified that she was told, in a text message, that in order to be prepared for a mission, she would have to accept certain possibilities: That he would have to touch her, under a swimsuit, in a hot tub, or that they would have to shower together. After one practice in which he admitted to his own arousal, she left, realizing that he was not actually planning on taking her on a mission. “I had been used and played,” she said in her testimony.
During the actual missions, Ballard insisted that they stay completely in character. Some of these women recalled Ballard groping them even when they were alone or in a car with tinted windows; Ballard would assure them that the traffickers could still be watching them. He would have the women share beds with him. He would insist on nudity. And he acted out sex acts with them, often over the women’s protests. (“Ballard developed a sexual position where it appeared he was having full-on sexual intercourse with his couples ruse victims, while not actually penetrating,” the lawsuit said.)”
Not fucking surprised at all.
Religious nuts through and through always pull shit like this.
wow you can really just look at some people and just know, huh
Boy, all the people that were pushing this movie and saying everyone needed to see it haven’t said a word about these revelations. Weird.
Not.
r/boxoffice making a point to ignore this as much as possible.