SHE was the stunning Brazilian model who inspired more than a million people on Instagram with her rags-to-riches story – while mixing with Hollywood’s elite, partying with Leonardo DiCaprio and living a life of luxury.
Wellness influencer and spiritual life coach Kat Torres was telling followers how they, too, could have everything they dreamed of.
To the outside world, she was a glamorous influencer who had it all but Kat Torres harboured a sinister secret[/caption]
She pretended to offer spiritual guidance[/caption]
Kat with Desirre and Leticia, whose families became increasingly worried after they lost contact[/caption]
But that split second of choosing to like and follow had unimaginable consequences for those who signed up for her sessions.
For, behind the perfectly curated posts was a story of witchcraft, sexual exploitation, bullying and human trafficking that led to missing women and a desperate search by their families and the FBI to find them.
“I was sexually exploited, enslaved and imprisoned,” says Desirre, who fell for the image and the promise of riches. “I hope my story serves as a warning.”
Despite an eight-year prison sentence on human trafficking and slavery charges, Kat Torres brazenly continues to plead her innocence.
In the documentary, Like, Follow, Trafficked: Insta’s Fake Guru, airing on BBC Two, on 9 April, she speaks exclusively to the BBC from behind the walls of a Brazilian prison.
She calls her accusers liars and even slyly threatens her interviewer for questioning her witchcraft powers, telling her: “Beware, huh? Later, you will find out whether I have the power or not.”
Growing up in a poor neighbourhood in the town of Belem, northern Brazil, Kat started modelling when she was 12 and saw it as a way to leave home and escape from her alcoholic father.
She began competing in beauty pageants and, at the age of 18, was offered work in Europe as a lingerie and swimwear model.
As her career took off she gained access to the world of celebrity parties and was pictured on the arm of Leonardo DiCaprio when she 24.
Now living in the US, she began to take off on social media – posting glamorous pictures of herself in beautiful houses, hotels and exotic locations, alongside motivational quotes.
Kat Torres, despite still claiming innocence is languishing in jail for a series of crimes[/caption]
Kat was invited to exclusive celebrity parties and was once snapped with Leonardo DiCaprio[/caption]
Kat was seen on social media in beautiful homes and living the good life[/caption]
Her subscription service offered customers “Love, money and self-esteem that you always dreamed of,” with self-help videos and advice on relationships, wellness, business success and spirituality.
Online video consultations, starting from $150, would unlock exclusive one on one time with Kat and she quickly had 1,000 people signed up.
“I felt that I deeply understood, like never before,” says Brazilian-born Desirre, who was living in Germany when she signed up to Kat’s consultations.
“I found comfort in her words. It was like therapy for me. After I watched her videos I could see improvements in the problems that I had been facing for years.”
Little did she know that, for her, it was to lead to prostitution and abduction.
Gradually, Kat became more influenced by various religions and spiritual self-help gurus, telling her followers that “The Voice” inside her head was passing on messages about how they should lead their lives and to ignore it at their peril.
“Kat said that the people who strictly followed her instructions were so happy but those who didn’t listen to her and The Voice were left depressed and suffered disastrous consequences,” says Desirre.
“She claimed that my relationship with my boyfriend was toxic and that if we didn’t separate something very bad would happen to me.
“I was terrified. I really believed that she had a supernatural power of precognition.”
‘Like a slave’
Desirre (pictured) fell under the alluring spell of Kat, thinking she could help turn her life around[/caption]
When Ana moved to the US from Brazil, she hoped Kat would be able to help her[/caption]
Ana says at first Kat “represented hope” for her before realising who she really was[/caption]
Ana was another young woman from Brazil who had moved to the US for a new life in Boston, and was hoping that Kat Torres was the answer she had been looking for.
“I think I was one of her first victims of human trafficking,” she says. “She treated me like a slave. I see the pattern clearly now. It was always her plan to isolate everyone.
“At first she resembled hope for me. She seemed to have overcome a difficult childhood of violence and abuse. When I found Kat, I was at rock bottom point in my life.
“I had got out of an abusive relationship and even before that I had a difficult childhood where I suffered a lot of violence as well as having health issues.
“I had gone to conventional therapy and many doctors. I was losing weight, was very sick and nothing was working.
“I was at a point where I had lost hope in life and I didn’t see a future for myself. People said that you can find God and God will heal you. So I was looking for a spiritual answer.”
Like Desirre and Ana, many vulnerable and impressionable young women looking for help and guidance in life, were attracted by Kat’s spiritual side.
But they were unaware that at the heart of it was a ruthless obsession with making money. How could she afford it all?
Her former friend, Luzer Twersky, an actor and writer, who lived with her, reveals: “In 2013 I moved in to her apartment at the top of a building where you could see the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty.
Luzer Twersky, Kat’s former flatmate, says he believes the drug ayahuasca changed her[/caption]
“It’s possible that she had money saved up from modelling but it was obvious to me that someone else was paying for all this. She had very nice clothes and purses.
“There was one particular incident where she had me go down to the lobby of the building that we lived in to pick up an envelope that was obviously full of cash.
“The reasonable assumption is that she was a sugar baby. She was sleeping with wealthy men who were giving her money in exchange.
“Later I discovered there was an elderly Russian oligarch, a friend of Vladimir Putin, who was taking care of her and he was paying for that apartment.
“I thought, ‘Good for her and I get to enjoy it, too, free of rent.’
“When I was in Paris with Kat she went to meet him in the south of France on his yacht and he gave her a Rolex watch, covered in diamonds.
Luzer adds that things began to go downhill for Kat after “she had her breasts removed.”
“She said that she had a flesh-eating disease that was eating her breasts and they needed to be removed and reconstructed,” he adds.
“Once she had the surgery, (the sugar daddy) was no longer there for her. Her connection with some of Hollywood’s elite led her to the psychedelic drug, ayahuasca, that has roots in indigenous religious rituals in Brazil. That is when she flipped.”
“The Voice” now became a key feature of her self-help persona.
In 2019, Kat managed to persuade Ana to join her in New York as her live-in assistant.
“Looking back, I see how she was manipulating me. She really rushed me into making that decision,” she says.
For around $2,000 dollars a month, Ana was told she would be responsible for looking after Kat’s pets, cooking laundry and cleaning.
But when she arrived she was startled to see the reality behind the image.
“I was used to seeing her in this perfect Instagram feed, always looking her best and then when I got to her house it was shocking because it was really messy, dirty and didn’t smell good.
“She wouldn’t be able to do minimal things for herself. If she was going to shower I had to be talking to her the whole time because she can’t stand to be in silence.
“The only time I was able to sleep a few hours in a row was if she was out with one of her boyfriends and I would lie down on the couch that smelt of cat urine.
“When she came home at 2 or 3am I would have to wake up. I felt trapped there. And I was never paid. She was using me but I still felt sorry for her. My mind was just so confused.”
After three months Ana finally managed to leave but the hold that Kat had over her meant it took over a year to break contact and she had to suffer several threats.
“I was terrified of her,” says Ana.
Witch plan
Kat Torres devised plans to get impressionable women in her clutch[/caption]
Kat roped Leticia into her cunning schemes on social media[/caption]
Kat and her boyfriend rented a five-bedroom home in Texas and persuaded dedicated followers to move in[/caption]
Kat moved to Texas with her gun-loving new boyfriend Zac, where they rented a five-bedroom house.
Here she set about persuading her most dedicated followers to live with her.
Behind with rental payment, she upped her consultation price to $700 and, increasingly deranged, turned to witchcraft to increase her hold over her victims.
Inside the house, a witchcraft room had incense and herbs used for exorcism and spells, along with an altar, candles and voodoo dolls.
“Kat called me, crying, saying her health was failing and that she was having suicidal thoughts,” says Desirre.
“She wanted me to come to Texas the next day and stay with her for a while because I was one of the people that she trusted most.
“Without me being able to process what was happening, she bought my plane ticket from Germany.”
Desirre was walking into a trap, as were two other young women who arrived – Leticia and Sol.
Kat posted on social media, introducing what she called her witch plan. “Meet the witches who work for you,” it said.
One of them was Desirre, along with a photo, stating that her “power” was “mental intelligence and wit.”
Leticia could apparently “Kill any human with her mind,” while Sol had the gift of “clairvoyance and magic.”
Of herself, Kat boasted she was “Queen of witches with the power of hypnosis and mental manifestations.”
I met some multi-millionaire sugar daddies and could only return home after reaching a daily goal of $3,000. I ended up sleeping on the streets several times because I couldn’t reach that.
Desirre
She used her mysterious ‘powers’ as a hold on her enslaved followers.
“She talked about the money she had spent on me, including tickets, accommodation, food, furniture for my room and even the witchcraft she had done,” says Desirre.
“She said if I decided to leave, all of these expenses would be charged and if I didn’t pay, she would curse me.
“She said in order to achieve my goals I had to prove to God that I was willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my dreams.”
Kat persuaded Desirre to work in a strip club, dancing topless seven days a week, to earn money from punters.
“At the end of the day I had earned $700 in fees. Kat proposed she would be my manager and put the money in the safe in her room.
“She insisted that my passport always stayed at home so I wouldn’t run the risk of someone from the club discovering my identity.
“In two weeks I had made about $9,000 at the club but Kat demanded I try to make at least $1,000 a day. I was exhausted physically and psychologically.”
With the help of a former boyfriend, Sol managed to escape but for Desirre things were about to get worse.
Kat set up a profile for her on an escort website called Sugarbaby.
Prostitution is illegal in Texas and Desirre says that Kat threatened to report her to police if she ever talked about wanting to stop.
“I met some multi-millionaire sugar daddies and could only return home after reaching a daily goal of $3,000. I ended up sleeping on the streets several times because I couldn’t reach that.”
Chilling threats
Ana was shocked to hear from Kat again in April of 2022 when she sent her a chilling Instagram post.
“She threatened me, saying she was going to keep my skull in her house, that I was a traitor and I would pay with my life for what I had done to her. I got really scared”, Ana explains.
It was time to be brave and take action and both Ana and Sol filed police reports against Kat Torres, telling police everything they knew and had experienced.
Meanwhile, the families of Desirre and Leticia had lost all contact with them. Anxious about their whereabouts, they started social media campaigns to find them.
She threatened me, saying she was going to keep my skull in her house, that I was a traitor and I would pay with my life for what I had done to her. I got really scared
Ana
In Brazil, the missing women’s story dominated news outlets and Kat panicked and moved to Maine.
She ordered Leticia and Desiree to post videos asking their families to stop persecuting them and looking for them and that if they have been blocked it’s because they don’t want to talk to their families.
Police eventually stopped Kat in her car, in which the two women were passengers. They were taken to a police station and eventually deported back to Brazil where Kat faced charges of human trafficking, slave labour and medical fraud.
She has been in prison since November 2022, awaiting trial over Desiree’s allegation, which took place last year behind closed doors.
On 28 June 2024, a judge sentenced her to eight years in prison for subjecting Desirre to human trafficking and slavery, concluding Kat lured her to the US for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Over 20 women have reported being scammed or exploited by her and investigations into them are ongoing. But behind bars, Kat remains defiant.
“When I was seeing the people testifying, they were saying so many lies,” she says.
“People are saying I am a fake guru but, at the same time, they’re also saying that I am so real and so dangerous that I can take their minds and change them.
“There are people who are born with no talent and there are people that are born with all talent, which I think is me. I used to sing in California.
“I have so many people talking to me about what I should do and where I should go. Fame will catch me wherever I am.”
Like, Follow, Trafficked: Insta’s Fake Guru airs on BBC2 on 9 April 2025 and is available on iPlayer
Kat established herself as one of Instagram’s top followers and had over a million followers[/caption]
Kat claims that all the testimonies and witnesses against her in court were lies[/caption]
Over 20 women say they were scammed or exploited by Kat[/caption]