2024-07-15 11:15:56
In September 2022, two young Brazilian women are reported missing, and their families and the FBI begin a desperate search across the United States to find them. All they knew was that the girls were living with influencer Kat Torres.
Torres is now sentenced to 8 years in prison for human trafficking and enslavement of one of these women.
Ana is not one of the missing women wanted by the FBI, but she is also a victim of Torres’ coercion and proves to be key to their rescue. She says she was drawn to the influencer’s history and fame.
What Ana doesn’t know is that the inspiring story Torres tells is based on half-truths and lies.
Torres’ website promises customers “the love, money and confidence you’ve always dreamed of.”
Self-help videos offer advice on relationships, well-being, business success and spirituality – including hypnosis, meditation and exercise programs, but only for an expensive subscription plan.
Amanda, another former client who lives in the Brazilian capital, says Torres made her feel special.
“All my doubts, questions, decisions: I always brought them to her first so we could make decisions together,” she says.
But the Soviets seem to have had a dark side. Ana, Amanda and other former followers say they found themselves increasingly isolated from their friends and family and were willing to do whatever Torres told them.
When Torres asked Ana to move to New York and work as her assistant in 2019, she agreed. She studied nutrition at Boston University, but instead arranged to study online, and says she accepted an offer to take care of Torres’ animals — and cook, wash and clean for her — for about $2,000 a month.
When she arrives at Torres’ apartment, she quickly realizes that he doesn’t live up to the perfection seen on the influencer’s Instagram.
“It was shocking because the house was really messy, very dirty, it didn’t smell good,” she says.
Ana says that Torres couldn’t seem to do even basic things without her, like take a shower, because she couldn’t stand being alone. She described having to be at Torres’ disposal at all times, only being allowed to sleep for a few hours at a time on a couch soaked in cat urine, bTV reported.
“I can see now that he used me as a slave … he enjoyed it,” says Anna, who says she was never paid for the work.
“I felt like, ‘I’m stuck here, there’s no way out.’ I was probably one of her first victims of human trafficking,” she adds.
Ana says that when she tried to talk to Torres, she became aggressive, which triggered Ana’s painful history of domestic violence. Eventually, after three months, Anna finds a way to escape by moving in with a new friend.
However, this is not the end of Ana’s role in Torres’ life. When the families of two other young Brazilian women report them missing in September 2022, Ana knows she must act.
Repeating the pattern she started with Ana, Torres targeted her most devoted followers, trying to recruit them to come and work for her. In return, he promises to help them achieve their dreams.
Desiree Freitas and Leticia Maia are the two women who move in with Torres and disappear. Another Brazilian we call Sol is also hired.
Posting on her social media channels, Torres introduces her “clan of witches” to her followers.
Desiree says Torres bought her a plane ticket from Germany, telling her she was suicidal and needed support.
Torres is also accused of persuading Leticia, who was 14 when she began life coaching sessions with her, to move to the U.S. on a work program, then give up and live and work with her.
As for Sol, she says she agreed to move in with Torres after becoming homeless and was hired to conduct tarot readings and yoga classes.
But it’s not long before the women discover that reality is far different from the fairy tale they were promised.
Within weeks, Desiree says, Torres was pressuring her to work at a local strip club, saying that if she didn’t comply, Desiree would have to pay back all the money she had spent on her: flights, lodging, room furnishings, and even the “witchcraft” that Torres performed.
Desiree says that not only did she not have that money, but at the time she believed in the spiritual powers that Torres claimed she possessed, so when Torres threatened to curse her for not following the order, she got scared.
Reluctantly, Desiree agrees to work as a stripper.
If the women do not meet the quotas set by Torres, which have risen from $1,000 to $3,000 a day, they are not allowed to return to the house that evening, they said.
“I ended up sleeping on the street a few times because I couldn’t reach it,” says Desiree.
Bank statements show that in June and July 2022 alone, Desiree transferred more than $21,000 to Torres’ account. She says she was forced to hand over a significantly higher amount of cash.
Prostitution is illegal in Texas, and Desiree says Torres threatened to report her to the police if she ever decided she wanted to stop.
In September, friends and relatives of Desiree and Leticia in Brazil launched social media campaigns to find them, growing increasingly concerned after months of no contact.
By this time they are barely recognizable. Their brunette hair was dyed platinum blonde to resemble Torres’s. Desiree says that until that moment all her phone contacts were blocked and she followed the influencer’s orders without question.
Ana, who lived with Torres in 2019, says as soon as she saw the missing girls on the news, she knew “Torres was keeping other girls.”
So she works in conjunction with the FBI and all other agencies involved in the case.
In chilling Instagram videos, Desiree and Leticia deny they are being held captive and urge people to stop looking for them.
In November 2022, police finally convinced Torres and the two women to appear in person for questioning in Maine.
The detective who questioned Torres, Desiree and Leticia – Detective David Davol – told the BBC that he and his colleagues immediately noticed the worrying behavior of the two Brazilians.
They were distrustful of law enforcement and unwilling to speak without Torres’ permission.
“People traffickers are not always like in the movies where there is a gang that kidnaps people. More often than not, it’s someone you trust,” says Detective Davol.
By December 2022, the two women were safely returned to Brazil.
And earlier in July 2024, Torres was sentenced by a Brazilian judge to 8 years in prison for subjecting Desiree to slavery, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking.
More than 20 women have reported being scammed or exploited by Torres. Torres’ lawyer told the BBC that she has appealed her sentence and maintains her innocence.