Tim Ballard claims defamation conspiracy led to his excommunication from LDS Church

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad, says a conspiracy involving members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led to his excommunication from the faith.

On Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, Tim and Katherine Ballard issued a press release surrounding what they call “the Deep Church.” The release included claims ranging from the origins of a defamation campaign against the couple to ISIS obstructing the former CEO’s work.

Defamation claims

“Representatives of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints… commenced a massive defamation campaign against Ballard,” the release reads. According to Ballard, the said campaign was instrumental in knocking him out of a 2024 Senate race.

Ballard went public with the claims on a video posted to social media. For nearly eight minutes, Ballard speaks about attacks against him.

In the video Ballard claims he was defamed during a promising run for the U.S. Senate. “President Trump urged Tim Ballard to run for the U.S. Senate in Utah, which Ballard publicly announced and was winning in straw polls by up to 80%,” he said.

The 2023 film ‘Sound of Freedom’ depicts many of Ballard’s missions fighting human trafficking with Operation Underground Railroad. According to the Ballards, the film inspired an act of Congress which lost momentum after “false allegations” came forward.

Excommunication from the church

“Entities inside the Church then used the tabloid defamation to do further damage to the Ballards’ reputation, by handing the lie to their LDS ecclesiastical leader with instructions to ex-communicate Ballard,” the press release claims.

According to Ballard, the said leader denied the Ballards access to something he calls “spiritually-guaranteed law of due process,” citing an instance where the LDS leader allegedly refused to provide any names of those who were making allegations.

Furthermore, Ballard claims the Church has refused to retract “obvious defamation,” which he says is now being used by ISIS, traffickers, and pedophiles to “obstruct Ballard’s work.”

In September of 2023, the Church issued a statement saying Ballard had “betrayed” religious leader President M. Russell Ballard’s friendship (no family relation).

“President [M. Russell] Ballard never authorized his name, or the name of the Church, to be used for Tim’s personal or financial interests,” read a statement received by ABC4 from Church Media Relations Director Doug Andersen.

On Mar. 24, 2025, the Ballards sent a letter to church authorities which claims Katherine Ballard spoke to the late-President Ballard (no relation) following the Church’s statement. They claim President Ballard denied any knowledge of the statement, and that he “never felt betrayed by Tim.”

The Ballards confirmed Tim’s excommunication would be detailed in an upcoming docuseries called “BackFire: The Excommunication of Tim Ballard.”

Original allegations

On Sept. 19, 2023, sexual abuse allegations from anonymous sources began gaining attention. The sources claimed that Tim Ballard would subject women to “sexual harassment, spiritual manipulation, grooming, and sexual misconduct,” during Operation Underground Railroad missions. Ballard denied the allegations, calling them “baseless.”

By Oct. 9, 2023, five women filed a lawsuit against Tim Ballard, calling him a “sexual predator” who manipulated and assaulted them under the guise of fighting human trafficking.

Plaintiffs argued that Ballard would use an undercover tool called “the Couples Ruse” where a woman would pose as Ballard’s wife in order to prevent detection from pedophiles. The women claimed he would use this told to coerce them into engaging in sexual activities, claiming it was a necessary part of the mission.

Several other women would later come forward claiming sexual misconduct from Ballard. Many remain in litigation.

The press release comes just one week before the release of a documentary film about Ballard called Hidden Wars.

Aubree Jennings and Trevor Meyers contributed to this reporting.