According to the report, Ballard invited female staff and volunteers to accompany him on overseas missions playing the role of his wife, then would coerce them into sharing his bed or showering together by telling them it was necessary to fool traffickers.
Vice said it had spoken with many of the women. One, it said, received photographs of Ballard in only his underwear, showing off a number of fake tattoos; another was asked “how far she was willing to go” to save enslaved children.