Brazilian Influencer Convicted Of Human Trafficking, Slavery After Luring Young Woman Into Sexual Exploitation

Kat Torres has been put in jail for luring young women into sexual exploitation.

A Brazilian judge sentenced Torres, 31, to eight years in prison for subjecting Desirrê Freitas, a Brazilian woman living in Germany, to human trafficking and slavery. The judge concluded that she lured Desirrê to the United States for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Torres reportedly scammed or exploited over 20 women. Many of them, who are still undergoing therapy, recently spoke with the BBC.

Desirrê detailed the gruesome incident in her book "@SEARCHING DESIRRÊ." According to her, just like the other ladies, she's still recovering.

"I'm not fully recovered yet, I've had a challenging year. I was sexually exploited, enslaved and imprisoned," she wrote. "I hope my story serves as a warning."

A woman named Ana, who found Torres' Instagram page in 2017, was instrumental in Desirrê's case. She lived with Torres in 2019. In September 2022, she saw Desirrê and Letícia Maia's family calling for their safe return home and that they were living with Torres. She immediately guessed that Torres "was keeping other girls."

Speaking to BBC Eye Investigations and BBC News Brasil, she claimed that she was among Torres' victims of coercion, so when she heard about the disappearance of the two women -- Desirrê and Letícia -- which sparked an FBI-led search, she suspected that Torres had something to do with it. According to Ana, Torres targeted most of her dedicated followers by recruiting them to come and work for her, as what happened to her. Torres would allegedly capitalize on the intimate details they share during the life-coaching session.

In 2019, Torres asked Ana to move to New York as her live-in assistant. She accepted the $2,000 offer to look after Torres' pets and do her cooking, laundry and cleaning. But she was reportedly never paid.

"I felt like, 'I'm stuck here, I don't have a way out,'" Ana said. "I was probably one of her first victims of human trafficking."

Aside from Desirrê and Letícia, a third woman, Sol, was recruited to live with Torres. Desirrê said Torres bought her a plane ticket from Germany because she was suicidal and needed her support.

Letícia, who was only 14 during their coaching sessions, said she moved to the U.S. for an au pair program and dropped out to live and work with Torres.

Sol, on the other hand, agreed to move with Toress after becoming homeless. She was hired to carry out tarot readings and yoga classes.

However, soon after, they were forced to work as strippers. They were also subjected to strict house rules. For instance, they needed Torres' permission to use the bathroom and had to give her all their earnings.

Sol was able to leave with the help of an ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile, Desirrê was forced to work as a prostitute. She initially refused when Torres asked her to swap the strip club for prostitution, but the latter took her on a surprise day out to a gun range.

"Many questions haunted me: 'Could I stop whenever I wanted?'" Desirrê wrote in her book. "And if the condom broke, would I get a disease? Could [the client] be an undercover cop and arrest me? What if he killed me?"

Ana contacted as many law enforcement agencies as possible, including the FBI to get Torres arrested. She and Sol reported Torres to the police, but they were not 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." The missing women's profiles on escort and prostitution websites confirmed suspicion of sexual exploitation.

The BBC obtained bank statements documenting Desirrê's money transfer to Torres of over $21,000 in June and July 2022. According to her, she was forced to hand Torres a higher figure in cash.

Prostitution is illegal in Texas, so Torres would reportedly threaten to report her if she would quit.

Torres is an Instagram influencer and YouTuber. She has a wellness website and a subscription service, where she offers self-help videos on spirituality and business. Her programs also include exercise, hypnosis, and meditation, The Sun reported.

She previously made the news when she went partying with Leonardo DiCaprio and other A-listers.

Torres' lawyer told the BBC that she has appealed her conviction and maintains her innocence.