Tim Ballard Lawsuits: Accusers, Dismissals, and Countersuits

The Tim Ballard lawsuits center on sexual misconduct allegations from women who worked with him on undercover anti-trafficking missions, plus his own defamation countersuits against those accusers. Since October 2023, cases have been filed in Utah state court and in federal court; several have been dismissed, two criminal investigations closed without charges, and a federal trafficking claim and Ballard’s counterclaims remain pending.¹

Ballard founded Operation Underground Railroad after leaving the Department of Homeland Security in 2013, and his career inspired the 2023 film Sound of Freedom.² He resigned from OUR on June 22, 2023, after the organization received an allegation that he had violated company policy and opened an outside investigation.³ The lawsuits followed within months.

What the Accusers Say Happened

The allegations share a common thread: an undercover technique the plaintiffs call the “Couples Ruse,” in which women accompanied Ballard on overseas missions posing as his romantic partner. According to the complaints, Ballard told the women that sex traffickers might be watching, so they had to maintain a convincing relationship at all times. The plaintiffs allege he used that premise to pressure them into sharing beds and showers, kissing him, spitting alcohol into his mouth, and enduring sexual contact he framed as operationally necessary.⁴

Three accusers were publicly identified early in the litigation:

Amy Morgan Davis, Miss Utah 2004 and a former makeup artist for Ballard, alleged he recruited her under the pretense of anti-trafficking work and made unwanted sexual advances, including touching her body.⁵
Mary Hall alleged Ballard groped her, kissed her stomach, and pulled at her pants waistband in his office, and that she was excluded from a later mission after reporting it.⁵
Celeste Borys, Ballard’s former executive assistant, alleged that during a 2022 mission in Ecuador, Ballard got naked in a hotel room and digitally penetrated her while two individuals she described as looking underage were present.⁵

Later filings added Sashaleigh Hightower, Kira Linch, Krista Kasey, and Bree Righter as accusers.⁶ Ballard has denied all of it, calling the accounts “baseless inventions” and saying sexual contact was prohibited under guidelines he personally wrote for field operations.⁷

The October 2023 State Lawsuit and Its Dismissal

On October 9, 2023, five women sued Ballard in Utah’s Third Judicial District Court, alleging sexual assault, battery, fraud, emotional distress, and conspiracy. The complaint described him as a “sexual predator” and alleged that OUR and the Spear Fund, where Ballard had become a senior adviser, knew about the behavior and ignored or silenced victims.⁸

Celeste Borys’s portion of that litigation, case number 230907663, ended in a dismissal with prejudice on July 18, 2025. Judge Todd Shaughnessy did not reach the merits of her rape allegations. Instead, he imposed terminating sanctions after finding that Borys had accessed Ballard’s personal email and Google Drive after leaving her job, continued to do so even after filing suit, and shared the material with media outlets.⁹ The judge wrote that her conduct was “no different than if she had used a key to access Mr. Ballard’s office in the dark of night to secretly photocopy documents from locked file drawers, including documents that were marked as privileged.”¹⁰ He called the behavior “deliberate and egregious” and said its wrongfulness “should have been obvious to anyone, including, importantly, her lawyers.”¹¹

The dismissal with prejudice means Borys cannot refile those claims. A separate lawsuit brought by her husband, Mike Borys, alleging fraud, conspiracy, and emotional distress against Ballard and OUR, was allowed to proceed.¹² Ballard’s attorneys said the ruling marked the third case dismissed by a judge and described the underlying allegations as an “orchestrated smear campaign.”¹⁰

The Whitehead Case

A separate suit filed on November 27, 2023, came from Suzanne Whitehead, who described herself as a witness to fraud within OUR. She alleged Ballard and OUR conspired to silence her after she criticized the organization’s fundraising practices, including a claim that OUR had fabricated a rescue narrative about a girl at a shelter in Nepal.¹³ Whitehead also named Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes as a defendant. She dropped the claims against Reyes in December 2023 after the two met and he apologized.¹⁴

Judge Charles Stormont dismissed the remaining claims against Ballard and OUR on September 1, 2024, ruling that Whitehead had failed to allege conduct “outrageous or intolerable” enough to support her emotional distress claim. The dismissal was without prejudice, giving Whitehead 21 days to refile, and her attorney indicated she intended to appeal.¹⁵

The Federal Trafficking Lawsuit

In October 2024, Borys and five other women — Mary Hall, Sasha Hightower, Krista Kacey, Kira Lynch, and Bree Righter — filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against Ballard, OUR, and two other individuals, Matthew Cooper and Michael Porenta. The complaint invokes the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 and alleges the defendants coerced the women into performing “sex, labor, and services” for Ballard’s personal benefit and OUR’s institutional benefit. It also alleges violent sexual assault and the laundering of money to hire sex workers during missions abroad.¹⁶

Ballard’s defense has called the filing “forum-shopping.” The federal case remains active.¹

Ballard’s Defamation Countersuits

Starting in the fall of 2024, Ballard went on offense. On September 24, 2024, he sued Amy Morgan Davis in Utah for defamation, alleging she falsely accused him of sexual assault. He claimed Davis attended an OUR training in October 2021 “with hopes of seducing” him, that he rejected her, and that she was asked to leave. He cited text messages in which Davis wrote that she “felt really comfortable” and “loved our connection” after the alleged assault.¹⁷

Davis’s attorney, Alan Mortensen, said the messages showed grooming and that Davis was “in character” while auditioning for the undercover role.¹⁷ Davis called the suit “retaliation” and said, “I will not be silenced,” and moved to dismiss.¹⁸ Both sides released additional messages from Ballard suggesting trips to a strip club and discussing “erotic massages,” which Davis’s team pointed to as evidence of intent.

In early October 2024, Ballard filed an additional defamation lawsuit in Utah County against six more accusers: Celeste Borys, Sashaleigh Hightower, Mary Hall, Kira Linch, Krista Kasey, and Bree Righter. His legal team said the suits were filed “reluctantly” to force the accusers to “withdraw their false claims,” and cited earlier statements the women had made that appeared to contradict their current allegations, including a statement attributed to Borys saying she had “never been taken advantage of” and videos of Kasey describing strict physical boundaries during missions. Mortensen said the women “are glad that Ballard will finally undergo depositions where his lies will finally be under oath and cross-examined.”⁶

Criminal Investigations Closed Without Charges

Two criminal investigations into Ballard have ended without prosecution. On November 14, 2025, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, led by DA Sim Gill, announced it would not file charges over the sexual assault and misconduct allegations. Gill said the survivors provided “important and compelling statements” but that “critical corroborating evidence is unavailable” and prosecutors could not establish the elements “with the certainty required by the law” to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The office said it would revisit the matter if new evidence emerged.¹⁹²⁰

On April 2, 2026, the Utah County attorney’s office separately declined to file criminal charges over a 2023 sexual assault allegation from Celeste Borys.¹

Where the Cases Stand

As of 2026, both criminal investigations have closed without charges. Several civil cases have been dismissed, including Borys’s state court claims and the Whitehead case. What remains open: the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act lawsuit brought by Borys and five other women, Ballard’s defamation countersuits against Davis and the six other accusers, and Mike Borys’s fraud and conspiracy suit against Ballard and OUR.¹ Ballard continues to deny all allegations and has maintained that the lawsuits are intended to destroy his anti-trafficking work.²¹

1
Salt Lake Tribune. Tim Ballard Following Sex Assault Developments
2
U.S. Congress. Witness Biography — Tim Ballard
3
Deseret News. Operation Underground Railroad Tim Ballard Allegations
4
BBC. Tim Ballard Sued by Five Women Over Sexual Assault Claims
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People. Former Miss Utah and Other Women Accuse Prominent Human Trafficking Advocate of Harassment and Abuse
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NewsNation. Tim Ballard Sues Remaining Six Accusers for Defamation
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East Idaho News. Ex-Operation Underground Railroad CEO Tim Ballard Calls Sex Misconduct Allegations Baseless
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NBC News. Tim Ballard, Who Inspired Sound of Freedom, Sued by Five Women for Sexual Assault
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Rolling Stone. Tim Ballard Sexual Assault Lawsuit Dismissed Over Stolen Docs
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KJZZ. Tim Ballard’s Attorneys Speak After Third Case Dismissed Over Stolen Documents
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Salt Lake Tribune. Judge Drops Lawsuit Against Tim Ballard
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Fox 13. Lawsuit Dismissed After Judge Says Evidence From Tim Ballard’s Email Cannot Be Used
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Fox 13. Judge Dismisses Emotional Distress Lawsuit Against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad
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ABC4. Plaintiff Says AG Sean Reyes Apologized, Has Been Dismissed From Ballard OUR Lawsuit
15
Deseret News. Judge Dismisses Ballard Lawsuit
16
Yahoo News. Anti-Trafficking Activist Tim Ballard Sued Under Federal Trafficking Law
17
Fox 13. Tim Ballard Sues Miss Utah 2004, Both Sides Release Text Messages
18
People. Tim Ballard Sues for Defamation After Sex Assault Claims
19
KSL TV. Ballard No Charges
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Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake DA Declines to Charge Tim Ballard
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ABC4. Salt Lake County DAs Office Declines to File Charges Against Tim Ballard