Tim Ballard, the former Homeland Security special agent who inspired the surprise box office hit Sound of Freedom, has fallen out of favor with a prominent leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to online media outlet Vice News.
Ballard has risen in prominence in recent months, after Jim Caviezel portrayed him in the Eduardo Verástegui-directed movie, which is the 10th highest-grossing film this year with a haul of more than $183 million. The film followed Ballard as he set up Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), an anti-child-trafficking organization.
Vice News is now reporting that Ballard had claimed prominent Mormon President M. Russell Ballard played a central role in OUR's operations—as well as backing his personal business ventures—as part of a bid to attract Americans to the Mormon faith.