Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of sex crimes. Reader discretion is advised.
BBC Eye released a documentary on Brazilian influencer Kat Torres, now in prison for sex trafficking and slavery. The film Like, Follow, Trafficked: Insta’s Fake Guru follows the critically acclaimed and award-winning investigative team’s inquiry into Torres’ crimes. The documentary premiered on July 18, 2024, on the YouTube channel of BBC World Service and is available to watch internationally.
Kat Torres in prison: What did the Brazilian influencer do?
According to BBC, Kat Torres, a former Brazilian model, wellness influencer, and spiritual life coach, is now in Rio prison. Her crimes included sexual exploitation, slavery, and sex trafficking while having a loyal following of over a million on Instagram. Torres received an eight-year prison sentence after the FBI investigated the disappearance of two women in 2022.
The outlet stated that Torres hails from an impoverished Brazilian community and became famous by modeling in Europe. She then led a luxurious life in the U.S., partied with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, and became the face of international magazines. Additionally, with more than a million followers on Instagram, she promoted wellness and spirituality. The model also offered advice on relationships and business success. These sessions included exclusive one-to-one video consultations after the clients paid extra.
Later, Kat Torres became the focus of a detailed FBI investigation concerning two missing women who disappeared in 2022. The victims’ families only knew that the two women, Desirrê Freitas and Leticia Maia Alvarenga, were living in an unknown location with Torres. This prompted the FBI to launch an extensive inquiry in the U.S., reported The Independent. She faced human trafficking and slavery charges in connection with the disappearances of one of these women.
Moreover, several other women have made allegations against Kat Torres now. She recruited Freitas, Alvarenga, and a third woman whom the BBC Eye documentary calls Sol, in her “witch clan” to work for her. She offered these women her Austin mansion to stay in, promising them their dream goals, but later forced them to work in a strip club.
Sol, who appeared in the documentary, revealed that living in Kat Torres’ mansion came with certain house rules. These included not talking to the other women there and requiring permission to leave their rooms, even when they had to use the bathroom. Moreover, she asked them to hand over whatever money they made from their jobs.
Describing the situation as “very difficult,” Sol explained to BBC that it was “terrifying” and she “thought something could happen to me because she had all my information, my passport, my driving license.” The alleged victim left the mansion with the help of an ex-boyfriend. She also claimed that some of them also had to work as prostitutes as a form of “punishment.”
Desirrê Freitas, who wrote a memoir of her harrowing experience, revealed in the book that Kat Torres made her switch jobs to prostitution. The victim claimed that when she refused, Torres took her to a gun range to scare her into complying. Freitas also claimed that Torres did not allow them to enter the mansion if they failed to reach a daily quota of $3000. The latter even threatened to report her to the police if she tried to stop working as a prostitute.
Moreover, Torres made the women dye their brown hair platinum blonde and had their cell phone contacts blocked. This made them unrecognizable and difficult to locate despite an exhaustive FBI search for them. Later, another woman named Anna, who once worked as Torres’ assistant, helped solve the case.
In November 2022, authorities asked Kat Torres, Desirrê Freitas, and Leticia Maia Alvarenga to attend an in-person welfare check in Maine. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office detectives who questioned the women noticed a number of issues with them, reported BBC. By December, U.S. authorities had safely deported Freitas and Alvarenga back to Brazil. They also deported Kat Torres back to the country, where local authorities arrested her on human trafficking charges.
The outlet stated that Kat Torres denied all allegations to BBC in April 2024. However, the case against her resulted in a conviction in June. A judge then sentenced Torres to prison for human trafficking and slavery after concluding she lured Freitasmto the U.S. for sexual exploitation. Moreover, authorities are now actively investigating other allegations against the disgraced influencer.
