Ex-Brazilian model and Instagram influencer jailed in US for enslaving followers, forcing them into sex work | Trending

Former Brazilian model Kat Torres, who built a successful career as a wellness influencer on Instagram, has been sentenced to eight years in prison. The shocking turn of events comes after an FBI investigation revealed she was involved in human trafficking and slavery. The investigation began in 2022 when two women reported missing were discovered living with Torres. The influencer has been sentenced to 8 years in jail for human trafficking and slavery of women.(Representative image) Several followers of Torres claimed that they were trafficked and were forced into sex work. One of the women trafficked Torres told the BBC that she was attracted to her rags-to-riches story. “She seemed like she had overcome violence in her childhood, abuse, all these traumatic experiences,” Ana told the BBC. She added, “She was on the cover of magazines. She was seen with famous people such as Leonardo DiCaprio. Everything I saw seemed credible.” How did she lure women into moving in with her?In 2019, Torres asked Ana to move to New York with her and be her live-in assant. Ana, who was studying at a university in Boston at the time arranged to study online and accepted the influencer’s offer. Torres said that she would pay Anna $2000 ( ₹1.6 lakh) a month to look after her and her animals. However, when she arrived at Torres’s apartment, it was a reality check. The apartment was messy, dirty, and very smelly. Ana claimed that she was constantly available for the influencer as she couldn’t bear to be alone, even for chores like a shower. Ana, who was in a vulnerable situation, found herself in another. She could barely sleep on a sofa covered in cat urine. Eventually, Ana, who was one of Torres’s first victims of human trafficking, escaped from her apartment with the help of her new boyfriend. More victims and forced sex workIn 2022, two young Brazilian women went missing. When Ana learned about it, she was sure that it was Torres. this time, Torres had married a man named Zach, and they had started living in a five-bedroom apartment in Austin, Texas. She repeated the same pattern and lured two women into working for her. In return, she promised to solve their problems through spiritual powers. Desirrê Freitas, a Brazilian woman living in Germany, Letícia Maia and Sol (name changed), both of whom were from Brazil, were recruited Torres. Torres bought a flight ticket for Freitas so that she could fly to her and support her as she was suicidal. She persuaded Maia to move to the US for a programme, only to drop out to live and work with her. Sol, who was homeless, agreed to move in with the influencer and was hired to carry out tarot readings and yoga classes. However, everything changed within weeks. Freitas was forced to work at a local strip club. When she protested, Torres threatened her to repay all the money she had spent on her and the “witchcraft” she had performed for her. The women who were living with Torres were not allowed to speak to each other or leave their rooms without her permission. “It was very difficult to, you know, get out of the situation because she holds your money. It was terrifying. I thought something could happen to me because she had all my information, my passport, my driving licence,” Sol told the BBC. Luckily, Sol too, escaped with the help of her ex-boyfriend. Freitas was then forced to work as a sex worker. Not only that, if she didn’t meet the per day earning quota, which was $3,000 ( ₹2.5 lakh), they were not allowed to return to the house that day. “I ended up sleeping on the street several times because I couldn’t reach that,” Freitas told the BBC. In September 2022, Freitas and Maia’s friends and family launched social media campaigns to find them. To deflect the suspicion, Torres travelled with them from Texas to Maine and coerced the women into posting videos on Instagram denying captivity. A welfare check arranged police in November 2022 at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Maine proved pivotal. The next month, both were safely returned to Brazil. The investigation unravelled a durbing pattern. Over 20 women have come forward, alleging they were victims of Torres’ scams and exploitation. These women are now undergoing psychiatric therapy to heal from their experiences. Torres’ former flatmate, Luzer Twersky, claimed that her Hollywood friends introduced her to ayahuasca – a hallucinogenic drug – after which she reinvented herself as a life coach and hypnot. She even developed a wellness website and subscription service that promised customers “Love, money and self-esteem that they always dreamed of”. She also created self-help videos on relationships, wellness, and business success, including hypnosis, meditation, and exercise programmes. She offered one-on-one video consultations for $150 that would solve “any of their problems”.