- A Utah judge has dismissed a sexual misconduct lawsuit against Tim Ballard.
- Plaintiff Celeste Borys improperly accessed documents used as evidence in the case, the judge said.
- Ballard's attorneys deny misconduct allegations and are pursuing defamation claims against some accusers.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah judge has dismissed claims of sexual misconduct brought by a woman against Tim Ballard, the founder and ex-CEO of Operation Underground Railroad, saying she improperly accessed internal documents later used as evidence in the case.
Celeste Borys was one of several women who accused Ballard of inappropriate conduct in lawsuits in 2023. A former executive assistant to Ballard at Operation Underground Railroad, now OUR Rescue, and later at the Spear Fund, Borys has claimed Ballard manipulated her into sexual contact through a ruse meant to fool sex traffickers.
Ballard has repeatedly denied those claims, and later in 2023 alleged that Borys based her claims on documents she obtained illegally from his email and online accounts, which she had access to as his assistant. That evidence has been used in separate cases brought by different accusers against Ballard.
A judge on Friday dismissed Borys' case with prejudice, saying she improperly obtained the documents by accessing Ballard's email after leaving Operation Underground Railroad and that her attorneys should have turned over any "potentially privileged materials."
"While the seeming ease of access to another person's electronic information, and the ability to search someone else's personal and business files from the comfort of your living room, might cause a person to think that what she is doing is somehow different than breaking into a locked office or file drawer, the reality is the two are the same," wrote 3rd District Judge Todd Shaughnessy.
He said it "should have been obvious to anyone" that the conduct was wrong.
Attorneys for Borys told KSL.com in a statement that they are "actively" contemplating appealing the decision, and reiterated that the dismissal of the case was not based on the merits of the claims.
"Ms. Celeste Borys is disappointed by Judge Shaughnessy's recent ruling, which was not made on the merits of her claims and does not absolve Mr. Ballard," her attorneys said. "In fact, the court expressly refused to hear the underlying evidence of Mr. Ballard's ... misconduct."
Her attorneys added Borys "remains resolute" and will press forward with her federal anti-trafficking lawsuit, which alleges that Ballard sexually assaulted her under the guise of the so-called 'couples ruse.'"
Ballard's attorneys spoke to reporters for the first time on Tuesday, defending Ballard against the claims brought by several women and celebrating the recent ruling dismissing Borys' case.
"It's important to us to speak today because Tim Ballard did not assault anyone," Whitney Bernstein told reporters Tuesday. "It's time for Mr. Ballard to continue focusing on the work that matters, the critical and important work he does of rescuing defenseless and vulnerable women and children and the work that the plaintiffs and their attorneys have jeopardized with their falsehoods in their smear campaign."
Ballard rose to prominence with his anti-trafficking organization and has continued to tout his work since parting ways with Operation Underground Railroad in 2023. His career with the Department of Homeland Security was the inspiration for the film "Sound of Freedom."
Mark Eisenhut, one of Ballard's attorneys, questioned the motives of the women who accuse Ballard, noting that the accusations were made in court shortly after the film became a surprise box office hit and as rumors circulated that Ballard might seek to run for then-Sen. Mitt Romney's seat.
The attorneys highlighted Shaughnessy's determination that Borys' testimony about why she accessed Ballard's electronic records was "not credible," and Bernstein said attorneys for the plaintiffs have sought to "manipulate the narrative in the court of opinion" by holding press conferences with the women accusing Ballard.
Two of the other cases against Ballard have been dismissed, one under a new Utah law aimed at protecting Utahns from being sued for exercising their free speech rights and the other after a judge found a liability waiver prevented the woman from suing.
Although none of the cases have so far been resolved on the merits, Ballard's attorneys say they hope to clear his name in court through one remaining ongoing case against him, as well as defamation lawsuits he has brought against multiple accusers, including Borys. Shaugnessy declined to dismiss a separate claim from Borys' husband, Mike Borys, writing that there was "no evidence presented and no argument to suggest" that Mike Borys played any meaningful role in inappropriately obtaining the documents in question.
"We are still investigating the extent to which Mr. Borys was complicit in his wife's unethical and, quite frankly, unlawful behavior, but certainly Mr. Ballard looks forward to litigating Mr. Borys' sole claim against him on the merits," Alexis Federico, another of Ballard's attorneys, told KSL.com.
Federico said Celeste Borys' actions "deprived Mr. Ballard of the right to a fair trial" because the documents were obtained inappropriately, and Eisenhut said Borys' allegations would be proven false by communications from Borys while she still worked for Ballard in which she said she felt comfortable around him.
"That part wasn't litigated," Eisenhut said. "It will be litigated, frankly, in our defamation case against her and we look forward to that outcome."
