While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, true charm often lies in the subtleties that are felt rather than seen
But Katiuscia Torres Soares somehow excelled those two.
The woman known as Kat Torres, initially led a humble beginning. But her striking beauty and charm helped her put her past where she lived in poverty, to a life of luxury.
Since a life as model has its own perks, her line of work has put her into the circles of celebrities and foreign oligarchs, and being invited to various events and occasions.
But behind the scenes, the Brazilian 'wellness' influencer and model had a scheme that was sinister.
Katiuscia Torres Soares was born in 1988.
The Brazilian model grew up in Brazil, and became a model at a young age, since competing in various pageants. With her experience, she moved to the U.S., and continued her modelling career.
Besides that, she was was known for being an Instagram influencer, where she offer self-help videos, and offer a subscription service focused on relationships, wellness, business success and spirituality.
As an influencer, she recommended hypnosis, meditation and exercise programs, while asserting she had spiritual powers.
For an extra $150, anyone could have a one-to-one video consultation with her, during which she would claim to be able to solve any of their problems.
In all, she had been "coaching" some 14,000 clients in how to achieve greatness.
"Love, money and self-esteem that you always dreamed of," she promised them.
And here, other than building her own career ladder, Torres also received significant media attention after she was photographed with Leonardo DiCaprio.
In the wildly commented photos, Torres is seen with the Hollywood A-lister during Cannes.
It all began when two young Brazilian women were reported missing in September 2022.
What followed is their families and the FBI launched an investigation to look for the missing people across the U.S..
When they were found, the police found that they were travelling, and also living with Kat Torres.
As for how Torres managed to influence the two women, is based on how she portrayed her life as a woman who had a awful past, but managed to brush it off by gracing the cover of international magazines. And through her influence as a well-being instructor, she managed to put herself as the coach for her followers, and lure them into the trap.
Ana was not one of the missing women targeted in the FBI search, but she was one of Torres’s victims, and her confession would later lead the police on the rescue.
She said that she was attracted to Torres after knowing how she grew up in poverty, but then walked in catwalks, and brushed shoulders with famous people.
"She was on the cover of magazines. She was seen with famous people such as Leonardo DiCaprio. Everything I saw seemed credible," said Ana. "She seemed like she had overcome violence in her childhood, abuse, all these traumatic experiences," she said in an interview.
“She kind of resembled hope for me,” said Ana, describing her reaction after seeing Torres’s photos on Instagram in 2017.
Because of this, Ana moved to New York to work as Torres's live-in assistant.
This happened in 2019.
At the time, she had been studying nutrition at university in Boston, but after arranging to study online instead, she accepted Torres's offer, and began looking for her pets, do her cooking, her laundry, as well as do the cleaning around the house.
She was promised a payment of $2000 per month.
Amanda, another former client who lives in the Brazilian capital, said that Torres made her feel special.
"All my doubts, my questions, my decisions: I always took them to her first, so that we could make decisions together," she said.
But sooner than later, they were quickly realized that the Torres was not living in perfection she projected on the influencer’s Instagram.
Her apartment, for example, was messy, dirty, and also smelly.
As explained by Ana, Torres seemed unable to do even basic things without her, like taking a shower, because she couldn’t bear to be alone.
Ana said that Torres abused hallucinogenic drug called ayahuasca. The drug was introduced by Torres's ex-flatmate.
”That’s when she kind of… started going off the deep end,” he says.
Ana also said that Torres might have been working as a sugar baby - paid for romantic involvement with wealthy and powerful men who were also paying for the apartment she lived in.
In other words, it was not long before the women discovered their reality was very different to the fairytale they had been promised.
And what happened afterwards, Ana, Amanda and other of Torres's followers said that they found themselves bound to Torres.
Eventually, they would all become psychologically isolated from friends and family, and become more-or-less, her slaves who would do anything for Torres.
Besides being her housekeepers, Torres' victims were also pressured into working at a local strip club, saying if they did not comply they would have to repay all the money she had spent on her, which include flight tickets and accommodation, furniture for their room, and even the “witchcraft” Torres had performed.
Ana described the situation has horrible, with her stating that they were forbidden from speaking to each other, needing Torres’s permission to leave their rooms, even to use the bathroom, and being required to immediately hand over all earnings they earned from stripping.
Torres managed to make her victims do whatever she said, by seemingly brainwashing them, by utilizing the intimate personal details they had shared with her during life-coaching sessions.
"Now, I see that she was using me as a slave […] she had satisfaction in it," said Ana.
"I felt like, ‘I’m stuck here, I don’t have a way out,’" she added. "I was probably one of her first victims of human trafficking."
Then, came the payday, and Ana was not paid.
Ana, who had given up her university accommodation back in Boston, had nowhere to return to. And because Torres didn't pay her as promised, Ana had no income to pay for a place to stay outside of Torres's apartment.
"It was very difficult to, you know, get out of the situation because she holds your money," she said.
"It was terrifying. I thought something could happen to me because she had all my information, my passport, my driving license."
When Ana tried to confront Torres, she became aggressive, triggering Ana’s painful history with domestic violence.
Eventually, after three months, Ana found a way to escape by moving in with a new boyfriend.
It was only after hearing that the police was after two missing Brazilian women, that Ana knew she should act.
It was only after this, that Desirrê Freitas and Letícia Maia, two Brazilian women whose disappearance sparked the investigation, were found.
Another woman, named Sol, also from Brazil was also found.
According to reports, at least four women were persuaded to join Torres in the five-room apartment, and a total of more than 20 women were reported being scammed or exploited by Torres.
When they were found, there were barely recognizable. Their brunette hair had been dyed platinum blonde to eerily match Torres’.
Torres was found guilty of using her influence and status, and her past, to ensnare her fans and followers into a cultish web of human trafficking.
Torres was deported back to Brazil and arrested in November 2022, as allegations emerged about her life behind closed doors in the United States.
After spending more than 18 months in prison, Torres was found guilty of human trafficking and slavery in July 2024.
Torres was finally sentenced to eight years in prison for subjecting one of her followers to human trafficking and slavery, with the judge assessing the victim had been lured abroad for sexual exploitation.
It's worth noting that Torres claimed to have dated Leonardo DiCaprio, but according DiCaprio denied this, and that it was only at Cannes that they saw each other.
Torres was also the face of 138 Water, a brand of premium mineral water, often marketed with an emphasis on luxury and style.
The brand gained attention for its sleek, minimalist packaging and collaborations with models and influencers. Photoshoots for the mineral water often involve high-end visuals of models in swimwear holding the product.
