Who is Kat Torres? Brazilian model and wellness influencer jailed for trafficking and slavery
INFLUENCER Kat Torres looked like she had it all, with a rags-to-riches story that earned her over a million followers on Instagram.
But she used this to groom and lure followers into sexual exploitation, and is now facing years in jail.
Who is Kat Torres?
Katiuscia Torres was born in Belém, Brazil, on 24 October, 1992.
She is an Instagram influencer who’s set to spend years in jail after being convicted on charges of slavery and human trafficking.
Torres ran a wellness website and a subscription service, offering customers self-help videos on spirituality and business as well as programmes on exercise, hypnosis and meditation.
There was also a premium service which, for an extra £120, allowed users to have one-to-one consultations with her.
But women, blinded by her apparent rags-to-riches story, were then coerced by Torres, and made to work for her in poor conditions with a promise of matching her success.
Torres has led a glamorous lifestyle, and was famously linked romantically with Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio in 2013.
It’s reported that they dated for a few months when she was 24-years-old.
More than a million people on Instagram followed her extraordinary career, going from extreme poverty in Brazil to a European modeling career and a life of luxury in the United States.
What did Kat Torres do?
Kat Torres was jailed for human trafficking and slavery.
Two young Brazilian women were reported missing in 2022, and their families launched a desperate search across the United States to try to track them down.
Desirrê Freitas and Letícia Maia were reported to be under the control of Torres in her house in Texas.
Another woman has spoken up about her own experience, saying she too was a victim of Torres’ coercion.
Ana says she came across Torres’ Instagram page in 2017 and was instantly taken in by what she saw.
She said: “She kind of resembled hope for me.
“She seemed like she had overcome violence in her childhood, abuse, all these traumatic experiences.”
Torres eventually asked Ana to move to New York to work as her live-in assistant in 2019.
She was told she would be paid £1,540 a month to cook, clean, look after Torres’ pets and do her laundry.
But Ana says she was never paid, and that when she tried to confront Torres she became aggressive.
She said: “Now, I see that she was using me as a slave… she had satisfaction in it.
“I was probably one of her first victims of human trafficking.”
Torres moved to Texas following this.
A number of women were persuaded to move in with Torres.
One of them, named Sol, said: “It was very difficult to, you know, get out of the situation because she holds your money.
“It was terrifying, I thought something could happen to me because she had all my information, my passport, my driving license.”
Desirrê has also spoken about her own experiences, saying that Torres had bought her a plane ticket from Germany, having persuaded her she was suicidal and needed her support.
She says she was pressured by Torres into working at a local strip club, and eventually forced to work as a prostitute.
Torres kept hold of her passport and driving license, and Desirrê says that she and the other women were told they had to meet an earnings quota of up to $3,000 each day before they were allowed into the house.
“I ended up sleeping on the street several times because I couldn’t reach that,” Desirrê adds.
Bank statements show Desirrê transferred more than $21,000 into Torres’ account in June and July 2022 alone.
In September, friends and family of Desirrê and Letícia back in Brazil launched social media campaigns to find them.
Ana said she saw the news stories and immediately alarm bells began ringing for her.
She says she contacted as many law enforcement agencies as she could to try to get her arrested.
As media attention grew, Torres moved over 2,000 miles to Maine with the women.
Videos on Instagram showed them claim they weren’t being held captive and that people should stop searching for them.
But the police eventually caught up with them after convincing them to attend a welfare check.
How long is Kat Torres sentenced to for trafficking and slavery?
Kat Torres was sentenced to eight years in prison for the human trafficking and slavery of one woman.
The judge concluded that she had lured the young woman to the US for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
It’s also thought that charges have been brought against her in relation to a second woman.
A further twenty women have also reported being scammed or exploited.
Torres maintains her innocence and says the victims have made up the stories of their experiences with her.
She’s appealed the conviction.