In September 2022, the families of two young Brazilian women reported them missing, sparking a nationwide search across the U.S. The women were known to be living with wellness influencer Kat Torres. Now, Torres, a once glamorous figure who partied with Hollywood elites like Leonardo DiCaprio, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for human trafficking and slavery.
From grievance to glamour to grooming
Ana, one of the first trafficking victims of Torres recounts how she was initially drawn to Torres’ Instagram in 2017. Ana endured a violent childhood and domestic violence and was inspired by Torres’s spiritual outlook and story of overcoming trauma and abuse. However, what Ana did not know was that Torres’s story was a façade.
Torres’ wellness website promised clients “love, money, and self-esteem that you always dreamed of” and offered various self-help resources. For an additional fee, clients could receive one-on-one video consultations with Torres, where she claimed to solve their problems. Followers say they found themselves becoming increasingly psychologically isolated from friends and family and willing to do anything Torres suggested.
Lured into modern-day slavery
In 2019, Torres had Ana move to New York to work as her live-in assistant, only to find herself living in a nightmare. Ana stated,
“It was shocking because the house was really messy, really dirty, didn’t smell good. Now, I see that she was using me as a slave… she had satisfaction in it. I felt like, ‘I’m stuck here, I don’t have a way out. I was probably one of her first victims of human trafficking.”
Ana was forced to work long hours, sleeping only a few hours at a time on a sofa covered in cat urine, and having to be constantly available for Torres. When Ana tried to confront Torres, she became aggressive, weaponizing Ana’s painful history of domestic violence.
After three months, Ana escaped with the help of a new boyfriend. However, when she heard that two other Brazilian women, Desirrê Freitas and Letícia Maia, had gone missing in 2022, Ana knew Torres was involved.
By then Torres has escalated her operations, targeting devoted followers to work for her under false promises. Desirrê, Sol, and Letícia who was only 14 when she started life-coaching sessions with Torres, were among those lured into financial and sexual exploitation.
As reported by the BBC,
Desirrê says Torres pressured her into working at a local strip club, saying if she did not comply Desirrê would have to repay all the money she had spent on her: flights, accommodation, furniture for her room, and even the “witchcraft” Torres had performed. Desirrê says not only she did not have this money, she also believed at the time in the spiritual powers Torres claimed to have, so when Torres threatened to curse her for not following orders she was terrified.
They would work extremely long hours, seven days a week… They describe being forbidden from speaking to each other, needing Torres’ permission to leave their rooms – even to use the bathroom – and being required to immediately hand over all earnings.
“It was very difficult to, you know, get out of the situation because she holds your money… I thought something could happen to me because she had all my information, my passport, my driving licence.” Sol said.
Torres demanded daily earnings threatening to report them to the police if they did not comply by using the criminalization of prostitution in the U.S. as a tool to leverage control and fear over the women.
Justice and prevention
Desirrê and Letícia’s friends and families launched social media campaigns to find them, fearing the worst. The turning point came when Ana and other former clients alerted law enforcement, including the FBI. In November 2022, police conducted a welfare check on Torres and the women, raising immediate concerns about their safety. “Human traffickers aren’t always like in the movies. It’s far more common that it’s someone you trust,” said Detective David Davol.
In July 2024, a Brazilian judge sentenced Torres to eight years in prison for human trafficking and slavery. More than 20 women have reported being exploited by Torres, many of whom continue to undergo psychiatric therapy.
Social media has become a perfect tool for traffickers to groom and exploit victims, making it easier to create and maintain coercive relationships. In addition to traffickers using social media to their advantage, they also leverage the criminalization of soliciting sex, even under duress, as a tool to exploit and exert control. If sex work were decriminalized, the power dynamics that exploiters use to manipulate trafficking victims would be dismantled, and an avenue of recourse and protection would be available to access without fear of legal repercussions for victims like Sol and Desirrê.
In sharing their stories, these women hope to raise awareness about the serious nature of these crimes and encourage protection mechanisms to become resilient to such exploitation. Learn more about the nuances of trafficking for sexual exploitation, and our work supporting the decriminalization of sex work to prevent trafficking here.
Freedom United is interested in hearing from our community and welcomes relevant, informed comments, advice, and insights that advance the conversation around our campaigns and advocacy. We value inclusivity and respect within our community. To be approved, your comments should be civil.
It is very brave of the victims to come forward and say it as it is. The trauma they have gone through is unimaginable. Trafficking of women and children is more prevalent globally than one’s initial perception. I recall I attended a workshop on trafficking of women and children in Cambodia more than a decade ago and the stories of survivors was heart-wrenching. It is horrific on one hand, and desperately sad on the other, that such things can happen in a developed nation.
That is a big eye opener to what is happening.
Decriminalization of prostitution is not the answer. Adjust the law to pursue the exploiters and their ‘johns’ who procure serial favors.
Prostitution must remain illegal, especially for the ‘johns’ & the ‘pimps’.
your focus on the decriminalization of prostitution is misguided. Decriminalization will only lead to increased victimization. It is very sad to see the difficulties of these young women exploited by your own misguided campaign to decriminalize prositution.
In Washington DC we fought against the decrim. campaign and we won. Decrim. only increases the vulnerability of women and girls and it leaves them at the mercy of pimps, who are free to profit off their repeated rapes.
Narcissists like nothing better than to be seen as some sort of guru.
Sounds a bit like Donald Trump and the US electorate…