The anti-trafficking celebrity says the ‘Deep Church’ entities acted without authorization to derail his U.S. Senate run and keep his movies out of theaters.
(Tim Ballard via Instagram) A video posted to Instagram by Tim Ballard on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2025. Ballard confirmed he was removed from membership by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, alleging it was part of a shadowy conspiracy to destroy his reputation. The Tribune blurred the account of a commenter.
Anti-sex-trafficking celebrity Tim Ballard has confirmed he was “excommunicated” by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, alleging it was part of a shadowy conspiracy by the “deep church” to destroy his reputation, torpedo his U.S. Senate campaign and keep his latest movie out of theaters.
“Many people think that I have been hurting something they love,” Ballard says in a video posted late Wednesday on Instagram. “After you listen to what I say, you’ll know that I’m not doing that. I am attacking something you hate that has infiltrated a piece of something you love.”
In a letter to church officials that Ballard also released, he alleges church headquarters orchestrated his excommunication — which the faith now refers to as “withdrawal of membership” — based on sexual misconduct accusations that he says are false. In the letter, dated March 24, 2025, he says he and his family had not yet sued the church and didn’t wish to do so, but are “resolute” that if the church does not retract its defamatory statement, they have “few options” other than going public or filing a lawsuit.
Church spokesperson Doug Andersen declined to comment Thursday on Ballard’s accusations. The Utah-based faith typically does not comment on church disciplinary actions.
In the video and other written documents, Ballard says that, on the heels of the box office success of the 2023 movie “Sound of Freedom,” which was loosely based on his story, President Donald Trump encouraged him during a meeting at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mitt Romney.
Weeks later, Ballard asserts, church representatives, whom he does not identify, “in collaboration with the George Soros-owned anti-Christian pro-pedophile tabloid outlet VICE News — now defunct — commenced a massive defamation campaign against Ballard, thus effectively knocking him out of the Senate race.”
In September 2023, VICE News was the first to report that Ballard had touted his close personal relationship with senior apostle M. Russell Ballard, who died in November 2023. (The two are not related.)
Soros was part of a group of investors who bought Vice Media out of bankruptcy in July 2023.
FILE – M. Russell Ballard, a high-ranking Mormon leader, is introduced before speaking during the World Congress of Families event, Oct. 27, 2015, in Salt Lake City. Ballard, one of the highest ranking leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, surrounded by family at his home, according to a church statement Monday morning, Nov. 13. He was 95. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
The VICE story included a statement from Andersen, the church spokesperson, that the two men built a friendship on their shared interest in stopping child trafficking but “that relationship is in the past” and they had not had any contact for many months.
“Once it became clear Tim Ballard had betrayed their friendship, through the unauthorized use of President Ballard’s name for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable,” the statement said, “President Ballard withdrew his association.”
In an accompanying timeline, Tim Ballard says that his wife, Katherine, and another associate both called President Ballard, who disavowed any knowledge of the statement and purportedly told them that he did not feel betrayed.
In his video, Ballard specifically identifies Andersen as “the one who perpetuated this lie and continues to do so.”
Ten days after the VICE story was published, according to Tim Ballard’s timeline, a church disciplinary hearing was held to address allegations of sexual misconduct leveled by several women against Tim Ballard — accusations he denies — and Ballard’s membership was withdrawn.
“Entities inside the church then used the tabloid defamation to do further damage to Ballard’s reputation by handing the lie to their LDS ecclesiastical leader with instructions to excommunicate Ballard,” Tim Ballard alleges in his video.
Ballard says church officials have “refused to retract the obvious defamation, which is now being used by groups like ISIS,” referring to the Islamic State group, “and traffickers in general to obstruct Ballard’s work.”
He says the church has also prompted some theater chains to refuse to show his new documentary, “Hidden War,” which is scheduled to be released next week.
In his March letter, Ballard asserts that he “has done everything possible to give his side of the story,” including “smuggling” information to the secretary for then-church President Russell Nelson — although Ballard believes Nelson, who died in September, never saw it.
He addressed a separate undated petition to have his membership reinstated directly to Nelson and his counselors in the governing First Presidency, seeking a “fair opportunity to defend his own character.”
(Alberto E. Tamargo | Sipa USA via AP) Tim Ballard is seen during the premiere of “Sound of Freedom” movie premier on June 23, 2022 in Miami Beach, Fla.
Ballard founded Operation Underground Railroad in 2013, aimed at combatting child sex trafficking. The release of “Sound of Freedom” in July 2023 made him a celebrity. The movie grossed $251 million worldwide.
Weeks before the movie’s release, the board of OUR had demanded he resign after an investigation into multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
The church statement followed in September and a series of lawsuits were filed against him. The lawsuits accused Ballard of using his anti-trafficking work as a pretense to engage in sexual assault and rape with women posing as his partner on undercover operations.
Several of the lawsuits have been dismissed. Two of those dismissals have been appealed. The main lawsuit, based on sexual misconduct allegations from five women, remains pending, although Ballard’s attorneys are seeking to have it dismissed.
Ballard has adamantly denied wrongdoing and has filed a defamation lawsuit against his accusers. He continues to promote his anti-trafficking work, which is the subject of “Hidden War.”
Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
