The inspiration behind the year’s biggest box office breakout sued by 5 women for sexual misconduct after already resigning in disgrace

If you haven’t been paying attention to the external noise, then from the outside looking in there’s no other way to describe Sound of Freedom other than the single biggest breakout box office sensation of the year, with the unassuming thriller hoovering up $235 million worldwide on a budget of under $15 million.

And yet, it would be a hell of an understatement to say that doesn’t really tell the entire story, with the hot-button thriller coming under fire for allegedly manipulating its monumental ticket sales, never mind one of its investors being charged with the felony kidnapping of a child despite its anti-trafficking subject matter, or the suspiciously high Rotten Tomatoes audience approval rating of 99 percent from upwards of 10,000 votes.

All that, and subject Tim Ballard – played onscreen by Jim Caviezel – quietly resigned in disgrace from the organization he’d founded earlier this summer when it was revealed that multiple women had come forward with misconduct allegations, facilitating his quiet exit from the Operation Underground Railroad group that dealt heavily in preventing the sexual exploitation of women and even children.

If Ballard was hoping the heat would die down, then USA Today has outlined even more bad news after reporting that five women are now taking legal action, alleging “he sexually manipulated, abused, and harassed them on overseas trips designed to catch child sex traffickers.”

The Spear Fund – another of Ballard’s anti-trafficking outfits – was named as a defendant, and while he’s yet to comment personally, attorney Mark L. Eisenhut issued a statement offering that “Mr. Ballard vehemently denies the allegations brought by these unnamed women. He looks forward to vindicating his name in the courts where evidence, and not unsubstantiated accusations in the media, decides the outcome.”