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Desirrê Freitas Flew In to Help a Friend. Her Passport Went Into a Safe.
Published 1 week, 5 days ago
Description
For years, Desirrê Freitas paid a spiritual adviser she had found on Instagram to talk through her relationship and her life. In April 2022 the adviser said she was in crisis and needed her. Desirrê flew from Germany to a house outside Austin to help. Within weeks her passport was in a safe and a bill was waiting: the flight, the room, the furniture, and the witchcraft she had been told was protecting her. Then came the nightly target she had to reach before she was allowed back inside.
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Desirrê Freitas, a Brazilian who had studied in Canada and was living in Germany, traveled to the United States on a tourist visa in April 2022 at the request of Kat Torres, a Brazilian model and online spiritual adviser with a large following and a published book. In a house in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, Desirrê worked shifts of as much as fifteen hours at a strip club and handed her earnings over; bank statements examined by the BBC showed more than twenty-one thousand dollars transferred to Torres in June and July 2022, and Desirrê said she also handed over substantial sums in cash. Another Brazilian woman, Letícia Maia, lived in the same household. Friends and relatives launched the Searching Desirrê campaign in September 2022. In November, police brought the three women to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Maine; in December, Desirrê and Letícia returned to Brazil. In July 2024, a Brazilian judge sentenced Kat Torres to eight years in prison for trafficking and enslaving Desirrê, finding that she had lured her to the United States for sexual exploitation. Torres denies the allegations, maintains her innocence and has appealed. Other women's allegations were still being investigated. Desirrê published her own account under the name her friends had used while looking for her.
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This account is drawn from Desirrê Freitas's interviews with O TEMPO and O Globo, BBC reporting that included her bank statements and a recording made before a police welfare call, the Brazilian podcast A Coach's reporting on Kat Torres's 2017 television appearance, the program Cidade Alerta, and the July 2024 sentencing in Brazil.
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This episode discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7.
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Desirrê Freitas, a Brazilian who had studied in Canada and was living in Germany, traveled to the United States on a tourist visa in April 2022 at the request of Kat Torres, a Brazilian model and online spiritual adviser with a large following and a published book. In a house in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, Desirrê worked shifts of as much as fifteen hours at a strip club and handed her earnings over; bank statements examined by the BBC showed more than twenty-one thousand dollars transferred to Torres in June and July 2022, and Desirrê said she also handed over substantial sums in cash. Another Brazilian woman, Letícia Maia, lived in the same household. Friends and relatives launched the Searching Desirrê campaign in September 2022. In November, police brought the three women to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Maine; in December, Desirrê and Letícia returned to Brazil. In July 2024, a Brazilian judge sentenced Kat Torres to eight years in prison for trafficking and enslaving Desirrê, finding that she had lured her to the United States for sexual exploitation. Torres denies the allegations, maintains her innocence and has appealed. Other women's allegations were still being investigated. Desirrê published her own account under the name her friends had used while looking for her.
---
This account is drawn from Desirrê Freitas's interviews with O TEMPO and O Globo, BBC reporting that included her bank statements and a recording made before a police welfare call, the Brazilian podcast A Coach's reporting on Kat Torres's 2017 television appearance, the program Cidade Alerta, and the July 2024 sentencing in Brazil.
---
This episode discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7.