Thread by @AdamHerbets

BREAKING - A fifth lawsuit has been filed against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.

For the first time, Angel Studios and the Harmon Brothers are also being sued. That's the company behind Sound of Freedom.

Here comes another long thread.

2. The plaintiffs are Kely Johana Suarez Moya and Luz Miriam Moya Solano.

They are represented by the same attorneys who filed the previous four cases.

Other defendants include Tim Ballard's wife (Katherine Ballard) and Tim Ballard's psychic (Janet Russon).

3. "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."

Complaint is 369 pages. Read along with me, below!

documentcloud.org/documents/2443…

4. Both of the plaintiffs live in Colombia.

Luz Miriam Moya Solano is Kely Johana Suarez Moya's mother.

The complaint begins with a quote from Mark Twain: "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

5. Lawsuit states the "Founding Myth" of OUR was "a sting operation conducted in Cartagena, Colombia in 2013, entitled 'Operation Triple Take.'"

"As part of this operation, Defendant OUR, through Ballard, worked with the United States and Colombian governments to hold a pedophilia sting operation on the Island of Baru just off the beaches of Cartagena, Colombia."

5. Lawsuit states the "Founding Myth" of OUR was "a sting operation conducted in Cartagena, Colombia in 2013, entitled 'Operation Triple Take.'"

"As part of this operation, Defendant OUR, through Ballard, worked with the United States and Colombian governments to hold a pedophilia sting operation on the Island of Baru just off the beaches of Cartagena, Colombia."

6. The sting operation included Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, acting as a body guard called "La Sombra"

Paul Hutchinson, another wealthy OUR donor, was the "boss," acting as if he wanted to have sex with a young girl.

7. "Ballard claims Plaintiff Kely was a known beauty queen and sex trafficker who runs a modeling agency that brings kids to Eduardo 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. Ballard claims that Plaintiff Kely and Eduardo were in actuality grooming the children to be sex slaves."

8. Here's how the lawsuit describes Tim Ballard + OUR's operation to take down Kely and others, with help from Colombian law enforcement.

"Undercover agent Elkin from the Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación (“CTI”), which is the Colombian equivalent of the FBI, would work the streets with Ballard to obtain the children for a price, and then offer the children to an island full of pedophiles, played by the Ramboesque OUR donors who bravely solicited young children for sex until the CTI arrived and arrested the traffickers and rescued the young children."

9. "The worldwide press went crazy with the news."

ICE issued a press release on October 13, 2014 claiming the rescue of 55 victims + listing the plaintiff as one of the arrestees.

Lawsuit says she was labeled as a trafficker.

10. Here are some more examples listed in the lawsuit of the "worldwide press" going "crazy with the news."

Complaint says one headline read: “Kelly Johana: The queen of child sexual exploitation?”

11. Despite Utah AG Sean Reyes being dropped as a defendant in a previous lawsuit, and not being named as a defendant in this suit, his name is repeatedly mentioned.

Allegations include that he ran "interference" for Tim Ballard and OUR + he was involved with fake passports.

12. The lawsuit states Tim Ballard's motivation, from the beginning, was "to make 'for-profit' documentaries and films of himself and OUR."

They say Sound of Freedom was written by Rod Barr (California) and Alejandro Monteverde (Mexico), which is why they're also being sued.

13. The lawsuit says Sound of Freedom included a character representing the plaintiff Kely.

Kely's photo is on the left. The character on the right is "Katy Giselle."

14. "In real life, Plaintiff Kely spent the next 18 months (after the OUR raid) at the Women’s Prison in Cartagena while she awaited trial."

Tim Ballard testified against her and posted about it on social media.

15. This lawsuit says this is Kely's real story.

"(She) did not have the funds or the where-with-all to recruit children from her neighborhood, let alone traffic them from Honduras in shipping crates."

"Prior to being invited to the island party and getting arrested, Plaintiff Kely had never been involved in trafficking of children or adults."

16. The next section of the complaint is titled: "TIM BALLARD CREATING THE DEMAND" and it begins with this quote from Seth Godin:

"Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers."

My thread broke? I don't know why. Thread continues here.

https://twitter.com/AdamHerbets/status/1761084867251712390

17. Lawsuit says Tim Ballard created a demand for victims of human trafficking by approaching a "beach vendor named Fuego" to set up a pedophile party.

TB and Paul Hutchinson were "deputized as undercover agents" and "signed contracts.. that included an anti-entrapment clause."

18. The lawsuit says, based on the demand that Tim Ballard and OUR created, "Fuego" approached "Eduardo" to set up the pedophile party.

They say the plaintiff, Kely, had nothing to do with it.

19. The lawsuit says prostitution is legal in Colombia, but pimping is not.

Lawsuit says Kely attended the party because OUR Operative Paul Hutchinson was looking for a young black girl to have sex with, and she needed money.

"At the time, Plaintiff Kely was twenty years old, but she looked under the age of 15 and she is black... Given Plaintiff Kely’s poverty, Plaintiff Kely decided to go to the party to try and become the 'novia' of Paul Hutchinson, as it would give her and her mother a way out of their poverty if she had a rich North American boyfriend."

20. "None of the young adults on the boat were trafficked in any way (other than by Ballard)..."

"In fact, court documents demonstrate that none of the young adults were trafficked or were sex slaves."

Lawsuit says Kely did not invite anyone and the only reason she was there is because she was invited.

21. The lawsuit portrays Kely as a victim, not a trafficker.

Her attorneys say OUR falsified her story.

"By the time the news hit the press, Plaintiff Kely was being presented by Tim Ballard as Ms. Cartagena, the Beauty Pageant Queen who traded her fame to traffic children."

22. Here are some more article headlines attached to the lawsuit. Kely says she was defamed by Tim Ballard and OUR.

23. "(Kely) spent the next 18 months in prison awaiting trial... The man who claims to rescue kids from cages, placed a kid into a cage for 18 months, for his own fame and stardom."

24. Lawsuit says the Colombian CTI agent who worked with Tim Ballard "has since been convicted of corruption and abuse of public office for taking bribes, and he is a fugitive with a warrant out for his incarceration for 129 months."

The conviction is attached as an exhibit, but it's in Spanish.

25. Kely says the writers of Sound of Freedom could have avoided defaming her if they simply "fact checked the Court records."

26. The lawsuit points to reporting from about Tim Ballard and OUR.

The report states OUR may be intentionally choosing to operate in countries with "dysfunctional criminal justice systems" because of "law enforcement complicity in such crimes." HuffPost.com

27. "Ballard claims in one of his movie scripts that it was because of corrupt judges in Colombia that (Kely) was released after 18 months."

Instead, lawsuit states she was released after 18 months in the Colombian San Diego Women’s Prison pending trial via habeas corpus.

28. Kely has attached a copy of her March 2023 diploma, showing she graduated law school.

She says she wanted to help others who had been wrongfully accused.

29. This next allegation is a big one.

"Ballard became aware that one of the filmmakers of The Abolitionists, was working in Haiti in what Ballard viewed was in direct competition with OUR, so Ballard asked that local officials arrest the filmmaker."

They've attached these text messages as evidence.

30. The next few pages of the lawsuit circle back to the couples ruse, a technique purportedly created by a Tim Ballard to create sexual chemistry with a female partner to fool human traffickers on undercover missions.

It's mostly the same allegations as first four lawsuits.

31. The lawsuit says Tim Ballard and Matt Osborne from OUR traveled to Cartagena to testify against Kely in 2023 because they wanted her to be convicted before Sound of Freedom was released.

"Ballard never revealed to the Court in Colombia his financial interests in the movies, books and podcasts he has made and profited from this raid... In fact, Ballard had hundreds of hours of raw footage that he had made for his for-profit documentaries, movies and books, that he never turned over to the Colombian legal authorities."

32. Plaintiffs allege Tim Ballard has "earned eight figures" (that's at least $10 million) from "his entrapment of the Plaintiff Kely and placing her into prison for 18 months, and traumatizing over 50 minors and young adults through the 'sting' and sex abuse interviews alone, without their parents, after dark, on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean."

32. The lawsuit says Angel Studios defamed Kely by failing to fact check Sound of Freedom: "despite Ballard's best efforts otherwise, (Kely) has never been convicted of any crime."

33. The lawsuit states OUR's attorney "sent a scathing reprimand" of Ballard "based upon entrapment issues," which "Ballard rejected out-of-hand."

There have already been questions/ concerns about attorney-client privilege in these cases. Looks like it will continue.

34. The next few pages of the complaint appear to be screenshots from Lynn Packer, an independent investigative reporter who has published a series of reports on Sound of Freedom and Angel Studios.

35. As we've known now for months, OUR opened an internal investigation into Tim Ballard because of a series of women who filed internal complaints related to sexual misconduct.

The lawsuit says "the timing could not have been worse for Angel Studios," so they were part of a "joint plan... it did not halt the release of the movie Sound of Freedom in order to determine whether Tim Ballard was who he claimed to be."

36. The lawsuit says Angel Studios "doubled 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."

37. The lawsuit states both OUR and Angel Studios covered up Tim Ballard's conduct.

"Rather than turn Ballard into the police for his criminal conduct, OUR paid Ballard $618,000 and gave him a Jeep Grand Cherokee to resign from OUR."

"Rather than stop the distribution of the movie Sound of Freedom, as it glorifies a sex abuser and a fraud and destroys an innocent bystander in the Plaintiff Kely, Angel Studios instead confirmed that Sound of Freedom would be released in 23 international markets throughout 2023."

38. Lawsuit states Tim Ballard and Angel Studios flew a young man named "Pedro" across South America to promote Sound of Freedom as a "survivor."

Plaintiffs say he was there during the "sting" involving Kely, but "he was never previously trafficked... The only people who gave Pedro money for sex were the North Americans from OUR."

39. The lawsuit states Tim Ballard's excommunication "did not deter Angel Studios" even though the company "panders" to the LDS community for donations and investors.

40. Kely says she is now "extremely traumatized" and "afraid to go out in public" after being defamed by billboards and posters in Colombia promoting Sound of Freedom.

"Plaintiff Kely has never been convicted of anything and remains presumptively innocent."

41. "However, despite knowing that Ballard is the actual monster in this terrible ordeal, Angel Video released Sound of Freedom on Prime Video on December 26, 2023, giving anyone across the world access to the lies and misappropriations about Plaintiff Kely."

1st Cause of Action - Defamation

2nd Cause of Action - Injurious Falsehood

3rd Cause of Action - Intentional Interference with Economic Relations

4th Cause of Action - Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

5th Cause of Action - Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress

6th Cause of Action - Invasion of Privacy for False Light

7th Cause of Action - Invasion of Privacy for Misappropriation of Plaintiff Kely’s Name and Likeness

43. Exhibit A: Arrest records for Candace Lierd.

Plaintiffs say Utah AG Sean Reyes charged "other-nonprofit operators who may have been doing illegal things, but which were paltry in comparison to OUR."

Previous reporting by my colleague @LucyNelsonTV
fox13now.com/news/local-new…

@Lucynelsontv 44. Exhibit B - Writ of habeas corpus for Kely.

45. Exhibit C - "Ballard and Hutchinson signed contracts to be deputized undercover agents that included an anti-entrapment clause"

@Lucynelsontv 46. Exhibit D - "In fact, court documents demonstrate that none of the young adults were trafficked or were sex slaves."

"Registry of Children at the Party"

These are heavily redacted. I'm attaching only the first page, but full documents are in the 3rd tweet of this thread.

47. Exhibit E (interview) + Exhibit F (declaration)

"Court documents show, and Pedro confirms, that he was never previously trafficked"

48. Exhibit H - Movie script, "Working Title: Operation Underground Railroad in Colombia"

First three pages below

Pages 213 to 241 -

(Highlights were not made by me, they were seemingly added by the plaintiffs.) documentcloud.org/documents/2443…

49. Exhibit I - Book proposal

This was also attached in previous lawsuits. Tim Ballard says he didn't write the proposal. He says it was written by a "ghost writer."

He says it contained inaccuracies and it was not published.

50. Exhibit K - page 302 to 326

"Had Defendant Angel Studios fact checked the Court records, it would have been aware that OUR had been sued and paid a settlement in Washington State, for the entrapment of a man in Operation Net Nanny."

51. Exhibit L - "The texts between Ballard and ('JJ') showed that Ballard was a two-faced liar who was engaging in an adulterous grooming relationship."

These same messages were attached to a previous lawsuit. I did a long detailed thread on those. ⬇️

https://twitter.com/AdamHerbets/status/1751295713202557216

52. 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,” it reads. “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.”

53. Woman portrayed as villain in 'Sound of Freedom' sues Tim Ballard

A spokesperson for Tim Ballard's legal team tells me they are currently working on a statement. We will update this story + thread.

fox13now.com/news/fox-13-in…

54. This is what @OURRescue's website currently says about Kely Suarez and the Sound of Freedom character "Katy Giselle."

"(She) really did recruit and traffic children using her credentials in Colombia... Beneath the surface, Suarez was nothing short of a monster."

ourrescue.org/resources/film…

55. Statement from a spokesperson for Tim Ballard:

“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.”