SALT LAKE CITY — An audit of former Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes found he lacked transparency and created a perceived conflict of interest for his involvement with Operation Underground Railroad. The audit also found that Reyes appeared to leverage his position to support the controversial nonprofit organization.
The audit was released Friday at 4:12 p.m. by the Utah Legislative Auditor General.
It cited numerous instances where Reyes withheld "questionable" information pertaining to his activities and travel itinerary while in office.
The Auditor General's office was originally ordered to conduct the audit to investigate Reyes's involvement with Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) and his longtime relationship with the organization's founder, Tim Ballard.
Reyes was a longtime supporter of Ballard.
Ballard has been the subject of multiple lawsuits accusing him of misconduct, including sexual assault. He eventually "permanently separated" from OUR. Ballard has denied all allegations against him.
Auditors said it was difficult to complete the audit and present clear findings because of Reyes' lack of transparency.
Texts between Reyes, Ballard raise questions about criminal investigation:
Reyes served as an "advisory board member" of OUR from 2015-2020, according to his conflict-of-interest disclosures.
According to the audit, Reyes "held back" information on:
- Meetings with the OUR Board of Governors.
- Events that included Reyes and Ballard in what appeared to be speaking roles and fundraisers for OUR.
- Meetings with Reyes and OUR staff to review OUR operations.
- Meetings with the Attorneys General Alliance (AGA), the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), and the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).
There have been longstanding questions as to how much time Reyes spends in Utah doing work on behalf of the voters who elected him.
According to the audit, 90 percent of Utah Attorney General's Office employees reported being visited by Reyes "a little" or "not at all." A total of 62 percent “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” that Reyes was involved in the operations of their division.
"Interviews with division and section leaders suggest little to no interaction with the AG during his tenure," auditors wrote.
Auditors presented a specific example of withheld information to the Legislature, showing how Reyes intentionally redacted lines from his calendar that would reveal he is not attending an event.

According to auditors, Reyes inaccurately stated the redactions were to protect attorney-client privileged information.
"The use of attorney-client privilege may be even less appropriate in its attempt to place restrictions on a legislative inquiry, such as an audit. The legislative branch has the power of oversight," auditors wrote.
Communications discovered during the audit showed instances when Reyes claimed he represented both the state of Utah and OUR.

The audit shared how Reyes's perceived conflict of interest with nonprofit organizations such as OUR "could compromise the AGO’s ability to fulfill its duties impartially in the event of misconduct or noncompliance within these organizations. The appearance of a conflict is further magnified when the AG is not transparent regarding his involvement with some nonprofits."
For example, auditors referenced a clip obtained by FOX 13 News showing Reyes speaking at an OUR fundraiser in Davis County.
"I’ve sat on maybe over a dozen nonprofit boards. There’s a lot of corruption, there’s a lot of fraud, there’s a lot of ego in the nonprofit world. I saw none of that, and I really looked hard at Operation Underground Railroad," Reyes said. "I looked long and hard, and I could find nothing wrong."
The Utah Attorney General's Office is tasked with the oversight of nonprofits.
Auditors believe Reyes leveraged his position to create his own nonprofit — Liberate All Values All (LAVA) — in order to vouch for other nonprofits.
"AG Reyes asserted the fact that one of the responsibilities of his position is to oversee nonprofits and know which ones have the highest impact," auditors wrote. "As such, he encouraged donors to provide charitable funds to LAVA and appears to indicate that he could determine what organizations were worthy of these donations. In short, it appears that LAVA acted as an intermediary between donors and other nonprofits."

In 2023, Reyes teased that he would be endorsing a "great conservative, patriot, and warrior" for the United States Senate.
According to text messages attached as evidence in a civil lawsuit, the "patriot" was OUR founder Tim Ballard.
Reyes eventually stated he would not be endorsing anyone.
In December 2023, Reyes stated he believed the women accusing Ballard of sexual misconduct. He ordered a criminal investigation into Ballard and OUR.
In that same speech, Reyes announced he would not seek reelection.
The audit confirmed reporting by FOX 13 News, showing how the Utah Attorney General's Office received $950,000 from OUR.
The Utah Attorney General's Office collected the money and distributed it to law enforcement agencies across Utah. Additionally, the Utah Attorney General's Office sent at least 13 thank-you letters to OUR with detailed statistics, outlining the number of police cases that were positively impacted by OUR’s donations. In exchange, OUR was able to fundraise using the numbers supplied by the Utah AG’s Office, taking at least partial credit for cases solved by local law enforcement.
The initial contract from the Utah Attorney General's Office inaccurately represented the funds as federal grant money, according to auditors.
"However, the grant actually came from OUR donations."
Reyes apologizes for Ballard friendship in Dec. 2023 video below:
Among the items redacted or withheld from auditors included times when Reyes visited a private barber shop and whether he conducted official business at the location as investigators discovered. During one 2023 barber shop meeting where information was withheld, Reyes is alleged to have met with "former military personnel working to partner on human trafficking issues" with the Utah Attorney General's Office, according to the audit.

When the Legislative Auditor General asked to review the travel policies and practices of Reyes and his offices, the audit claimed the information provided by Reyes "did not appear to be complete."
"This impairs our ability to fulfill the request made by the Legislature," the audit states. "Since we did not receive sufficient information, we did not evaluate whether travel appeared to be appropriate or excessive."
- FOX 13 News wins 15 cases seeking access to 66 calendars of government officials
- Utah Attorney General’s Office charges $7,282.07 for work-related calendars
For more than a year, FOX 13 News has also been trying to obtain an accurate copy of Reyes' calendar.
The Utah Attorney General's Office denied the station's public records request but lost its case in front of the State Records Committee.
"This is a fishing expedition," argued attorney Lonny Pehrson.
The State Records Committee disagreed, ordering the requested calendars to be released.
The Utah Attorney General's Office chose not to appeal the case in district court, instead placing the calendars behind a $7,202.07 paywall.
After the audit presentation, current Utah Attorney General Derek Brown promised to waive the fees.
Video below shows how Reyes was accused of witness tampering, intimidation:
The audit added that Reyes' travel outside of official business did not appear to use state funding. However, information gathered by auditors showed Reyes traveled more than he disclosed.
Brown was elected to take over the position in November.
In its recommendations moving forward, the audit suggests the Utah Attorney General's Office should establish best practices on internal governance and transparency, and that the Utah State Legislature should consider enacting additional ethical and transparency requirements on the position.
"My job now is to look forward. My job is to figure out: How do we make the office transparent?" Brown said. "When I was elected, I knew that the day would come when I’d stand in front of cameras and have to answer for things that I may not have had anything to do with. And I’m okay with that."
Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, applauded Brown for the efforts he has taken to be more transparent — such as releasing his calendar.
Still, Ivory felt true checks and balances might need to come from the Legislature.
"We’ve seen the last two or three attorneys general come in speaking about the very same thing: My first objective is to clean up the office and restore integrity," Ivory said. "We’ve kind of had, sadly, a pattern."
Ivory was referring to former attorneys general Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow.
Both were arrested. Both were charged with crimes. Neither were convicted.
Following the audit's release, a spokesperson for Reyes sent a text message indicating Reyes welcomed audits throughout his tenure as attorney general.
"The audit’s review validated that the AGO had the best culture of any public agency that they have reviewed thanks to its people and the leadership of AG Reyes and his management team," the statement read. "This fact speaks volumes about the vision, consistency and leadership from the top, especially in relation to when AG Reyes took over at the lowest point in AGO history. While the AGO has always had talented and dedicated employees, they were under paid, under resourced and under appreciated. The office that was transitioned to AG Brown this past month is one that competes with private law firms in bringing the highest quality legal representation to the state."
The full audit reports can be read here: