Brazilian Instagram influencer jailed for trafficking and slavery
Brazilian Instagram influencer jailed for trafficking and slavery
Young women tell the BBC how Kat Torres lured them to her homes in the US, where they worked for no pay.
When two young Brazilian women were reported missing in September 2022, their families and the FBI launched a desperate search across the US to find them. All they knew was that they were living with wellness influencer Kat Torres.
Torres has now been sentenced to eight years in prison for the human trafficking and slavery of one of those women. The BBC has also been told that charges have been filed against her in relation to a second woman.
Can someone Explain to me like a kid how in the world do you traffic someone?
Kinda blows my mind how cults can proliferate so easily on social media.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
She says she had suffered a violent childhood, moved alone to the US from southern Brazil, and was previously in an abusive relationship.Torres had recently published her autobiography called A Voz [The Voice], in which she claimed she could make predictions as a result of her spiritual powers, and had been interviewed on reputable Brazilian media shows.“She was on the cover of magazines.
Torres’ wellness website and subscription service promised customers: “Love, money and self-esteem that you always dreamed of.” Self-help videos offered advice on relationships, wellness, business success and spirituality - including hypnosis, meditation and exercise programmes.For an extra $150 (£120) clients could unlock exclusive one-to-one video consultations with Torres during which she would claim to solve any of their problems.Amanda, another former client who lives in the Brazilian capital, says Kat made her feel special.“All my doubts, my questions, my decisions: I always took them to her first, so that we could make decisions together,” she says.But it appears that advice had a dark side.
She was now married to a man called Zach, a 21-year-old she had met in California, and they were renting a five-bedroom house in the suburbs of Austin, Texas.Repeating the pattern she had begun with Ana, Torres had targeted her most dedicated followers, trying to recruit them to come and work for her.
Five months earlier, both she and Sol had reported Torres to the US police - but say they weren’t taken seriously.In a video she recorded at the time for evidence, since shared with the BBC, a distressed Ana can be heard saying, “this person is very dangerous and she has already threatened to kill me”.Then the missing women’s profiles on escort and prostitution websites were discovered.
His observation is backed up by the UN, which says it is one of the fastest growing crimes, generating an estimated $150bn (£117bn) in profits a year worldwide.He believes social media gives it a platform on which to thrive, making it much easier for traffickers to find and groom victims.
This is the first time Ana has spoken publicly.She says she wants people to recognise that Torres’ actions amount to a serious crime and not some “Instagram drama”.In the closing pages of her book Desirrê also reflects on her experiences.“I’m not fully recovered yet, I’ve had a challenging year.
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