Instagram influencer jailed for trafficking and enslaving followers

Following an FBI investigation revealing that two of the women living with Kat Torres had vanished in 2022, the former Brazilian model and Instagram influencer located in the US was sentenced to eight years in jail for the crimes of human trafficking and slavery of women.

Women who have come forward to describe their horrific experience living with Torres have claimed that she was also the one who trafficked and enslaved them. The women told the BBC they were drawn to her rags to riches tale because she moved from living in an impoverished Brazilian neighborhood to attending parties with Hollywood celebrities.

In addition to claiming to be able to make predictions with her psychic abilities, Torres—who was formerly linked to actor Leonardo DiCaprio—was frequently seen on fictitious Brazilian television programs.

“She was on the cover of magazines. She was seen with famous people such as Leonardo DiCaprio. Everything I saw seemed credible,” the woman named Ana told BBC.

Spiritual gifts

According to the BBC, Torres’ former roommate in New York shared a house with her Hollywood friends, who introduced her to the hallucinogenic substance ayahuasca. The Instagram influencer transformed herself into a life coach and hypnotist by abusing this substance.

A wellness website and subscription business that offered clients the “Love, money, and self-esteem that you always dreamed of” was quickly created by Torres.

She also produced self-help DVDs with guidance on hypnosis, meditation, fitness regimens, relationships, wellness, and economic success. For $150, she was willing to provide private video sessions to address “any of their problems.”

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Enslaved followers

Ana relocated to New York in 2019 to take a live-in assistant position with her Torres. She fled an abusive relationship and a rough childhood in Brazil, traveling alone to the US to attend a university in Boston to study nutrition.

For a monthly salary of $2000, she had to take care of Torres’ animals, prepare meals for her, wash her clothes, and clean. However, she was stunned by what she saw at Torres’ home when she got there. She had to sleep on a sofa soiled with cat poop, and the house was dirty. Ana was only permitted to rest for a few hours each day and was expected to be ready for Torres at all times. She would sneak off to sleep a few hours in the building’s gym. She never received compensation.

Following Ana’s escape, Torres employed Desirre and Leticia, two more women who relocated to a Texas home with Ana. For the women, what had begun as a healing retreat and life coaching swiftly descended into a nightmare.

Witchcraft and prostitution

Within a few weeks, Desirre was coerced into working as a strip club employee while Torres engaged in “witchcraft” with her. It was against the rules for the two women to talk to each other. They had to obtain her permission before leaving their rooms, not even to use the restroom.

Desiree was soon persuaded to become a prostitute by the Instagram influencer. She was not permitted to return to the house that evening if she failed to reach Torres’s earning targets.

Desirre told the BBC, “I ended up sleeping on the street several times because I couldn’t reach that.”

The friends and family of the two women started searching for them on social media in September. Torres and the women left Texas for Maine to avoid being photographed by the press. After that, the two were forced to release videos on Instagram. They denied the imprisonment and asked people to cease looking for them.

More than two dozen women have come forward with tales of being duped or taken advantage of by Torres. They continue to receive mental health treatment to get well from what they claim they went through.