Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes releases statement distancing himself from Tim Ballard lawsuit

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes released a statement Wednesday addressing references to him in a recently filed lawsuit against Tim Ballard, the founder and former CEO of the anti-child trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad.

Reyes denies having any prior knowledge of Ballard’s alleged misconduct or any role in shutting down the Davis County Attorney’s investigation — or any other investigation — into the organization, according to the statement published on the Utah attorney general’s website.

“The Utah Attorney General’s Office is fully committed to fight crime, protect the public, act with integrity, and see that justice is done. It is important that recent allegations not detract from the urgency to fight the very real crime of human trafficking in our state and in the world,” the statement says.

A lawsuit filed Monday and another filed Tuesday by different unnamed plaintiffs who claim to be former employees of OUR accuse Ballard of sexual assault, fraud and emotional abuse. Other defendants listed include board members of Operation Underground Railroad, the organization itself, and several other corporate entities tied to Ballard, including the Spear Fund.

Reyes was not named as a defendant in either lawsuit.

Reyes, however, is mentioned in the court filings as “One of Ballard’s closest friends” who “has repeatedly vouched for OUR and Tim Ballard, even participating in an alleged OP in Colombia.”

The Deseret News reported that Reyes had joined Ballard on an undercover sting operation in Columbia in 2014. But Reyes denies being aware of the alleged misconduct against Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad, and condemns the behavior if true.

“If the allegations are true, and had he known of such alleged behavior, he would not have allowed use of his name and would have strongly condemned such actions,” the statement said of Reyes.

Related

• Lawsuit filed against Tim Ballard, Operation Underground Railroad and others; Ballard denies allegations

• Utah AG Sean Reyes ‘shocked’ by allegations against Tim Ballard

One of the lawsuits alleges Ballard “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly, committed battery and sexual assault of Plaintiffs, as all sexual touching was done under the Couples Ruse in order to help save trafficked children and women.”

The “couples ruse” came to public light through media reports alleging misdeeds by Ballard and OUR. As alleged in both of the lawsuits, “Ballard claims that the couples ruse was an undercover tool to prevent detection by pedophiles when Ballard would not engage in sexual touching of the trafficked women offered up to him in strip clubs and massage parlors across the world.”

But those bringing the lawsuits allege that “Ballard soon began abusing the couples ruse and eventually used the ruse as a tool for sexual grooming,” both lawsuits state. The documents outline alleged grooming tactics, and claim Ballard manipulated women to “coerce them into sexual contact.”

The statement from the attorney general’s office says Reyes had “never heard of any alleged sexual conduct as addressed in the Complaint, including what has been described in detail as the ‘Couple’s Ruse,’” and that Reyes had only ever “observed conduct that was positive, productive and legal in his interactions with OUR and Mr. Ballard.”

The statement adds that Reyes “was aware that on operations there were sometimes operators posing as couples and that arrangement, itself, was a deception or ruse, but he never had any direct or indirect knowledge of the sexual actions alleged in the Complaint.”

In the statement, Reyes “strongly disputes” the claim found in the lawsuit that “consumer complaints and criminal investigations were pouring into his office regarding the improprieties of OUR and Ballard.”

“None of the senior leadership in the (Utah Attorney General’s Office) could recall a single request for investigation, consumer complaint, or any substantive complaint at all until the Vice story broke in September,” the statement reads. “The (Utah Attorney General’s Office) is reviewing documents internally to see if there was ever any complaint made to any part of the office.”

Related

• Davis County Attorney’s Office closes investigation into Operation Underground Railroad

• Tim Ballard, former CEO of Operation Underground Railroad, issues response to church statement

In 2020, as part of its now-closed investigation into Ballard and OUR the Davis County Attorney’s Office did reach out to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, the statement confirms. Documents related to funds given by OUR to the Davis County Internet Crimes Against Children agency were given in response to the request.

However, the statement from Reyes’ office claims a “screen” has been in place since December 2020, a few months after investigations were opened into Ballard and OUR, to prevent Reyes from making decisions on behalf of cases “pertaining to Davis County, Tim Ballard or OUR” out of an “abundance of caution.”

The Deseret News reported in May that the Davis County Attorney’s Office had closed its investigation of Operation Underground Railroad without pursuing any potential charges related to the organization.

Reyes, or his office, was never the subject of this criminal investigation, the statement clarifies.