Influencer who says she dated Leonardo DiCaprio jailed for trafficking fans and keeping them as 'slaves'
A woman who claims to have once dated Leonardo DiCaprio has been sentenced to eight years in jail.
Katiuscia 'Kat' Torres is an Instagram influencer and model and gained a huge following online with her 'rags to riches' journey to success.
When she was 24-year-old, Torres claimed that she was dating Inception star DiCaprio in an interview with a Brazilian news outlet.
Torres alleged that she had met DiCaprio in Cannes, but sources close to the actor later went on to refute the claims and said that the pair were never romantically involved.
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Fast forward almost a decade and the self-made star is been slapped with an eight-year prison sentence after recently being found guilty of human trafficking and slavery.
In 2022, two Brazilian women were reported missing by their families with the FBI going on to conduct a search across the US for them.
All the missing women's families knew was that they were living with Torres.
The two women - Desirrê Freitas and Letícia Maia - were said to be dedicated followers of Torres' and after promising a new life for them in the US, the pair flew over from their respective countries and moved into Torres' home in Austin, Texas.
Shortly after moving state-side, Desirrê was reportedly forced to work in a strip club for long hours with Torres going to set her working quotas of over $2,000 a day.
This lead to her getting involved in prostitution so that she could make such large amounts of cash.
She wasn't allowed back into Torres' home if she didn't meet her quota, the BBC reports.
In a bid to find the two women their families launched a social media campaign and when one of Torres' former members of staff saw it, she approached law enforcement and expressed her concern that the influencer was holding the missing people captive.
A media storm then followed, sparking Torres to up and move the girls to Maine.
After the move, they were eventually persuaded to take part in an in-person welfare check where Detective David Davo spotted a number of red flags.
One of the warning signs was the two women's reluctance to speak without Torres’ permission, according to BBC News.
The check confirmed people's suspicions and the two women went on to be reunited with their families.
Meanwhile, Torres was deported back to Brazil and was arrested in November 2022.
She has since been found guilty of human trafficking and the slavery of one of the women and sentenced to eight years in jail.
According to The Independent, Torres is also facing similar charges that have been filed by a second woman and an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
She told the BBC in April that she was completely innocent, and they were 'so many lies that at one point, I couldn't stop laughing'.
"People are saying I am a fake guru, but at the same time, they are also saying that… ‘She is a danger to society because she can change people’s mind with her words'." she said.
Torres maintains her innocence and has appealed her conviction, according to her lawyer.
Topics: Leonardo DiCaprio, Crime, Social Media, News, US News, World News
Niamh Shackleton