SALT LAKE CITY — A woman is suing for defamation and emotional distress because of the way she was portrayed in the feature film "Sound of Freedom," marking a fifth lawsuit filed against Tim Ballard and the nonprofit he used to run, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR).
Plaintiffs Kely Johana Suarez Moya and her mother, Luz Miriam Moya Solano, live in Colombia.
The film, which claims to be based on a true story, features actor Jim Caviezel in the role of Ballard as he works to rescue victims of human trafficking. It was one of the highest-grossing films of 2023 in the United States.
“This is a case of a young Colombian woman who was tragically condemned by the Defendants to the entire world as being a child trafficker without any due process or due diligence by the Defendants,” the lawsuit reads.
A spokesperson for Ballard's legal team has strongly denied the accusations.
Other defendants in the lawsuit include:
- Sound of Freedom Movie, LLC
- Angel Studios, the distributor of Sound of Freedom
- Harmon Brothers Marketing, related to Angel Studios and Sound of Freedom
- Rod Barr, one of the writers for Sound of Freedom
- Alejandro Monteverde, one of the writers for Sound of Freedom
- Katherine Ballard, the wife of Tim Ballard
- Janet Russon, a former OUR employee and Tim Ballard’s psychic
WATCH: Women speak publicly for the first time since reporting Tim Ballard for sexual misconduct
The complaint begins with a quote from Mark Twain: “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
Kely’s attorneys say Ballard and OUR lied to the public about a “sting operation” in Colombia known as Operation Triple Take, where operatives “rescued” children at a “pedophile party” on the Colombian Island of Baru in 2014.
WATCH: Plaintiff says these audio recordings prove OUR lied about 'sex slaves' to raise money
In reality, Kely says, Ballard and OUR organized the party by luring in impoverished children and young adults with the promise of money.
Prostitution is legal in Colombia, according to the lawsuit. At least one of the young adults who attended the party said he saw ads for it on social media.
“None of the young adults on the boat [to the island] were trafficked in any way (other than by Ballard),” the lawsuit reads. “In fact, court documents demonstrate that none of the young adults were trafficked or were sex slaves.”
Instead, some of the participants said they were simply trying to take advantage of an opportunity to make large sums of money — which was reportedly offered regardless of whether they agreed to sexual conduct with the “American tourists” on the island.
"Ballard claims Plaintiff Kely was a known beauty queen and sex trafficker who runs a modeling agency that brings kids to (suspect Eduardo Ortega Issa) by going to schools and tricking parents into handing over their kids to her so that they can be models in a phony modeling agency," the lawsuit reads. "Ballard claims that Plaintiff Kely and Eduardo were in actuality grooming the children to be sex slaves."
Documents from Colombia show Kely was arrested as part of the operation and imprisoned for 18 months but eventually released under habeas corpus.
Her attorneys say she is no longer being actively prosecuted despite Ballard traveling to Colombia to testify against her. Instead, the prosecution is believed to be focused on three men who allegedly worked to organize the “pedophile party” after learning of Ballard’s inquiries.
“We anticipate that either (Kely) will be declared innocent or the prosecution time will lapse by October,” said attorney Suzette Rasmussen.
Kely says she did not invite anyone to the party, meaning she did not intentionally or even accidentally traffic anyone. She also says she did not attend any planning meetings for the party. Instead, she says she attended the party because she saw it as an opportunity for herself to make money.
“At the time, Plaintiff Kely was twenty years old, but she looked under the age of 15,” the lawsuit reads. “Given Plaintiff Kely’s poverty, Plaintiff Kely decided to go to the party to try and become the ‘novia’ of (OUR Operative) Paul Hutchinson, as it would give her and her mother a way out of their poverty if she had a rich North American boyfriend.”
Documents attached to the lawsuit show Ballard and Hutchinson were “deputized as undercover agents” and “signed contracts ... that included an anti-entrapment clause.”
After the arrest, some media reports portrayed Kely as a “Colombian beauty queen” who was "busted" for trafficking children. Her attorneys say this was a falsified story encouraged by OUR and later bolstered through the film "Sound of Freedom."
“(Kely) spent the next 18 months in prison awaiting trial,” the lawsuit reads. “The man who claims to rescue kids from cages placed a kid into a cage for 18 months, for his own fame and stardom."
Kely graduated from law school in March of 2023, stating she wants to help others who have been wrongfully accused. Later that year, she said she was further traumatized by "Sound of Freedom" and its promotional material.
The film includes a character named “Katy Giselle,” who represents Kely.
The lawsuit says, "Angel Studios explains on its webpage that the character Giselle represents the real-life Plaintiff Kely."
The lawsuit describes the “Katy Giselle” character from the film as “a wealthy, socialite beauty queen” depicted by an actress who looks very similar to Kely.
According to the lawsuit, Angel Studios used the "Katy Giselle" character to “double down” on Kely’s image, “again painting her as a monster child trafficker, rather than one who had been trafficked by Tim Ballard for his personal gain and fame.”
Kely says she became “extremely traumatized” and “afraid to go out in public” after being defamed by billboards in Colombia promoting "Sound of Freedom. "She said the writers of 'Sound of Freedom' could have avoided defaming her if they simply “fact checked the Court records.”
The plaintiffs allege Ballard has “earned eight figures” (at least $10 million) from “his entrapment” of Kely.
A spokesperson for Ballard’s legal team said they are currently working on a response to the lawsuit.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office declined to comment.
A spokesperson for OUR released the following statement:
“This complaint – which presents no legal basis for suing OUR – is a new low for the plaintiffs’ attorneys, who are aware that OUR did not participate in the production of Sound of Freedom or have approval rights in the film. OUR also does not have any financial ownership or share in the revenue or profits of the film. In fact, OUR was not mentioned or referred to once in the film. We are confident that the facts and law are on our side with respect to this baseless lawsuit, which is another example of the plaintiffs’ lawyers abusing the litigation process and wasting judicial resources for their personal gain.”
According to OUR's website, the Sound of Freedom character "Katy Giselle" is in fact "loosely" based on Kely; "Beneath the surface, (Kely) was nothing short of a monster. She used her good standing and credibility to lure children away from their families with promises of making them successful models, but instead she sold them into the booming sex trade."
After the filing, Ballard's team released the following statement:
“More unfounded allegations against Tim Ballard by the same attorneys for the same reason – hoping for a big payday. These cases are already falling apart, with eyewitnesses proving a key claim is entirely false. And we’re just getting started outlining the additional evidence that will show these cases are nothing more than an organized shakedown.”
Ballard's team also attached the video clip below from Operation Triple Take, which they say should raise questions about the veracity of the plaintiffs claims in the lawsuit.
"In this video clip [above], you can see the plaintiff sitting with Tim Ballard and several other men," the statement read." As the language (Spanish spoken, English subtitles) makes very clear, unlike what the plaintiff claims in her suit, this conversation is not about her and not about having sex with 'a young black girl.' The conversation is clearly about sex with young, underaged girls – plural. None of the conversation in any way appears to be about or directed at her or mentions sex with a young black girl. What it does show is the plaintiff chiming in to a conversation about sex with underaged girls to say that the men should treat them with 'with delicacy' and laughing."
In response to the Operation Triple Take video, one of Kely's attorneys also sent a video to FOX 13 News.
"This is one (video below) of the undercover cops testifying that Kely was passive at that meeting, said attorney Alan Mortensen. "She was there being offered to the North Americans, not as a trafficker."
Rough translation: "If I'm not wrong, if memory serves, she played a more passive role there. It seems that Samuel — she accompanied Samuel. But it seemed like she was also already being offered. Like she was going to be part of the kids he was putting on the table to do the event. But she was obviously accompanying Mr. Samuel all the time."