and the biggest wildfire to hit california this year is continuing to spread rapidly, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes. now on bbc news... like, follow, trafficked: insta's fake guru, episode 1. she looked beautiful. she looked like a barbie doll. she looked fun and sweet.

i remember she has, like, 1 million followers on her instagram. i was like, "yeah, i want to be like her." the rise of kat torres seemed to be the ultimate rags to riches story — from extreme poverty to international model and wellness influencer. she captivated women all over the world. everything that i saw seemed credible, seemed like she was an ex—model that decided to turn into a life coach. she was in cover of magazines, she was seen with famous people such as leonardo dicaprio. she knew a lot of very wealthy and powerful men from all walks of life — finance, government. she knew everybody. but behind the perfectly curated instagram posts and the promise of all the love, money and self—esteem that you always dreamed of lay a very dark reality. she was so blissful. she was so sweet.

and then, she turned into an absolute narcissistic monster. she took these girls and she convinced them to do whatever she wanted them to do, just like a cult. i was in a strange city- in a strange hotel, having sex with a stranger for money. "how did i get here?" i think i was probably one of the first victims of human trafficking. she was using me as a slave. witchcraft, sexual exploitation and missing women. then, a desperate search by their families and the fbi. she was, by definition, a master manipulator. you guys are going to have a really difficult time telling the story cos it's not a simple story. they are saying she is a danger to society because she can change people's mind with her words. she can... can you?

canl? you tell me. canl? i hope i can! she said she was around 12 when she started modelling. she liked wearing red lipstick and she would have this short chanel hair. people would always tell her she looked pretty and that she should model. kat torres grew up in northern brazil in a poor neighbourhood in the city of belem. so, she was offered modelling jobs and, apparently, things with her family got really bad and her father's

alcohol problem got worse, so she decided to model so she could afford not to have to live with her parents any more. as kat's modelling career took off, she was booked for photoshoots and began gaining access to the world of celebrity parties, and that soon brought her to the attention of the media. she was in cover of magazines, she was seen with famous people such as leonardo dicaprio. the brazilian press was saying that she was leonardo dicaprio's new blonde. the story about her and| leonardo dicaprio didn't harm her at all — i think it actually made her name i in the brazilian media.

and if she was smart, - she could actually have taken advantage of it, but she ended up moving to the us. - america was where kat really started to take off on social media and it was instagram that enabled her to build and monetise her own wellness brand, turning followers into clients. i remembershe has, like, i million followers on her instagram. it was, like, for that time, it was incredible. and i was like, "i like this. "i like what she's talking about," you know? so, that is why i start to following her. kat quickly capitalised on her instagram success by publishing a motivational self—help book about her life.

i read the book. i thought like, "oh, my god." she had like an incredible life story — like, she came from ghetto. i feel motivated when i saw herstory, like, "yeah, "if she can do it, i can get it, too," you know? woo! why is this your thing? i was behind the scenes, for sure, helping her- to produce these things. my name is colborn bell. i'm an entrepreneuri and the ex—husband of kat torres. i worked with her to buildi out her coaching practice. it was during our timei together that she first began her coaching sessions. her website and subscription service offered paying customers advice on relationships, business

success and spirituality. i felt deeply understood like never before. ifound comfort in her words. it was like therapy for me. after i watched her videos, i could see improvements in the problems that i'd been facing for years. she was always promoting her consultations, saying, like, "i can fix your problem. "i can help you." kat drew inspiration from spiritual leaders and self—help gurus from around the world. kat admired john of god, a controversial brazilian medium who was later convicted of rape. she also followed the work of tony robbins, an american life and business coach. who here can remember a time when you had a lot of pain? -

how many can relate to this? we went to the tony robbins conference. she loved tony robbins — almost idolised him. she wanted to be a coach. combining what she admired about other gurus, kat successfully rebranded herself.

kat — she kind of resembled hope for me. she seemed like she had overcome difficult childhood, violence, abuse — all these traumatic experiences. when i found kat, i wasjust in rock—bottom point in my life. i had gotten out of an abusive relationship and even before that, i had a difficult childhood. i suffered a lot of violence. i was having health issues. i had gone to conventional therapy. i had gone to many doctors. i was losing weight, i was really sick and nothing was working. i just was in a point that i had lost hope in life and in my mind, like, ididn�*t really see, like, a future for myself. all these people say that they can find god and god can heal you, so that was kind of like my last shot. i was like, "let me see if god is real. "let me see if i can find a spiritual answer." then, i kind of started to turn

to the spiritual world. you want to take a sec? yeah. ijust get emotional. no, it's ok. you're doing really well. many of the women attracted by her spiritual side disclosed their deepest secrets and insecurities to kat, believing her advice was working. but what they didn't know was that her wellness empire was built on half truths, lies and an obsession with money. my name is luzer twersky. i'm an actor and a writer and i was kat's room—mate and friend. so, yeah, this is it right here. and her apartment was up there somewhere — one of the top floors is where it was.

you can see the bridges, you can see the hudson river, statue of liberty — you can see it all from the top of the building. it's possible that she had money saved up from modelling but it was obvious to me that someone was paying for all this and the reasonable assumption is that she was, you know, a sugar baby, that she was sleeping with wealthy men who were getting something from being in her presence and they were giving her money in exchange. my understanding is that there was a russian oligarch who was taking care of her and that he was paying for that apartment. i was like, "yeah, she's hot. "she's got a russian billionaire giving her money." like, good for her. yeah, so this russian guy, he's actually vladimir putin's friend~ — for a while, she couldn't even tell me his name. she would only call him by his first letter, by a.

when i was in paris with her, she went to meet him in the south of france on his yacht and he gave her this rolex covered in diamonds. she was, like, totally in love with him and she would talk to him almost every day and, yeah, he would fetch her from where she was to meet him in places all over the world — sometimes in russia. although, for me, he wasjust this very weird—looking old man. but they never met the elusive oligarch themselves. so, things started getting weird about the time that she had her breast removed. she said that she had a flesh—eating disease that was eating — that was eating her breast and it had to be removed and reconstructed. once she had the surgery, i think that most of those men were gone. it seemed to me that

after she was no longer useful as a sexual conquest, i think those men, you know, weren't there for her. after her operation, kat tried to move from modelling into acting, but her entanglement with some of hollywood's elite led her to the psychedelic drug ayahuasca. it has roots in indigenous religious rituals in brazil and is still popular there. i went with her to an ayahuasca ceremony. all sat on the floor and they were singing pachamama or whatever those weird songs are, chants. after the ayahuasca is when she flipped. that's when she kind of, like, started going off the deep end. kat says from a young age, she had a spiritual gift of making revelations and predictions, which she called the voice.

after her ayahuasca sessions, it quickly became a key feature of her self—help persona. during our consultations, kat commented on her entities, what they wanted and how they communicated. for those who are christians, she said the entity was god. to sceptics, she said they were moments from the past and memories. sometimes she was like, "send a message to me". for example, "hi, i had a dream with you. "i need to talk to you." the voice told her something. she talked about the people who strictly followed her instructions and how happy they were, while the customers who didn't listen to her and the voice were left depressed and suffered disastrous consequences.

some of her clients say they became dependent on kat and encouraged by her to break off their relationships. she claimed that my relationship was toxic and that if we didn't separate, something very bad would happen to me. i was terrified. i really believed she had a supernatural power of precognition. she also began to isolate others in different ways. ana was studying in boston when she says kat persuaded her to move hundreds of miles to become her live—in assistant. looking back, i see how she was manipulating me. she really rushed me to do things. so, i moved from massachusetts to new york to live with kat. for around $2,000 a month, ana says she was told she would be responsible for looking after kat's many animals, cooking, laundry and cleaning. but when she arrived, things were very different. my first impression of kat was kind of confusing because 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 the house was really messy, really dirty, it didn't smell good. she wouldn't be able to do minimal things by herself. like, if she was going to shower, i had to be talking to her the whole time because she cannot stand to be in silence just taking a shower. and the only times i was able to sleep for a few hours in a row is if she was out with one of her boyfriends. and then, when she came home, whether it was at 2am, 3am, then i had to wake up. despite working around the clock, ana says she was never paid by kat. when she confronted her, ana says kat became aggressive, triggering her painful history with domestic violence. now, i see that she was using me as a slave. she wanted to see me doing everything that she wanted, not pay me, and i see that she had satisfaction in it. like, i clearly see

that she was using me but at that time, somehow, i still felt sorrow for her. my mind was just so confused. after three months, ana finally managed to leave but the hold kat had over her meant it took over a year to break contact. so, this is the first time that i'm speaking on camera and showing my face because i was so terrified of kat that i thought if anything that i had to do to expose her, i had to do anonymous. i think i was probably one of the first victims of human trafficking. i see the pattern clearly now that this is what she's been trying to do. it was always her plan was to isolate everyone — whether it was her young boyfriends or the girls from her consultations — and she just wanted to gather everyone to come live with her.

my name is wayne murray and i was the neighbour. the human trafficker lived across the street. we'd never talk to them. they weren't very friendly. if i would drive around the little cul—de—sac here, i'd wave, they would never wave back. in 2022, kat moved to texas with her new husband, zach, a 21—year—old man she met in california. they rented a five—bedroom mansion in the suburbs. zach, he was a good—looking guy, very buff. he didn't wear shirts very often. they weren't paying their rent and so, they were evicted. the whole front yard, it was just full of bags and boxes and things that they pulled out. this is part of the things that — unusual things that they had. they had — these are voodoo dolls. so, that was unusual. and then they had bought herbs,

dried herbs in packages that were commercially made and sold, and they were good for romance, for health, for this, but three of them were also good for exorcisms, which i thought was a little unusual. we can go back and google kat torres and we were shocked at what we found. they referred to her as a cult leader. we also noticed she had facebook pages and things like that where she was going to heal people from different things, as she said, "with magic". we didn't have a clue what was going on. as business got busier, kat increased her prices, charging several hundred dollars for online consultations. targeting her most dedicated followers, she began trying to recruit them tojoin her in texas. desirre, a young brazilian woman, would later write a book

about her experiences. we've translated her words and used an actor to portray her. kat called me crying and told me that her health was failing and that she was having suicidal thoughts. she wanted me to come to texas and stay with her for a while. she said she had no one else besides her new husband and that i was one of the people she trusted most. she said i needed to be in texas the next day. we talked for two hours and without me being able to process what was happening, she bought my tickets. kat posted on social media, introducing what she called her �*witch clan'. she had convinced her clients desirre, 21—year—old leticia maia, and a woman we are calling sol, to move to austin to live with her. the bbc has discovered at least four more women were almost persuaded. when i arrived, kat took me to see the witchcraft room. she had set up a large altar with candles and religious

images. she prayed to the angels asking for protection, health and prosperity for all of us. she did a live on instagram, calling people, say, "hey, i'm coming, people. "who wants to come to my house here in texas? "you can work with me." i had to live in a shelter for a while, i had to live in the streets for a while, so it was like, "i don't want to go through this again. "i have something to offer." and i said, "i'm a yoga teacher. i do tarot readings." sol moved from boston to austin after kat promised to pay her to help with her wellness business. but she says she was forced to do domestic work 24—7 instead and the money never materialised. kat's control over her dark and secretive sorority quickly grew. they say they were led by her into making decisions that would dramatically change the course of their lives.

one day, katiuscia went to the room with this girl with crystals and tarot cards and candles. in my mind, i think she's doing, you know, some witchcraft. and on the same afternoon, i remember i was coming upstairs — i think it was to basket with laundry — and the girl looked at me in the eyes and said, "i want you to drive me to a strip club because it's "in there that i'm going to find my husband. "katiuscia told me there the voice in her head "is saying that i have to go to this place "because he's in there." she told me about the hollywood industry and the experiences she had in los angeles, the people she met, the parties she went to. she knew several models and influencers who had become prostitutes in europe and in the united states. before i could even ask for an explanation, she said that i was wasting a million—dollar opportunity. 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. she said if i decided to leave, all these expenses would be charged and if i didn't pay, she would curse me. desirre says kat persuaded her to work in a strip club — something she believed would be temporary. at the end of the day, i saw that i had earned $700 in fees. kat counted the money and proposed she manage it herself, keeping everything in the safe in her room. she also insisted that my passport always stayed at home, so that 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 that i try to make at least $1,000 a day. desirre describes how the work she was forced to do began to take a serious toll on her health. all the money went to kat and the daily targets she set continued to rise. i tried to talk to kat again so we could put the club aside and focus on her coaching company. i was exhausted physically and psychologically and i was still at risk because i was illegal. kat went on to say, "do you realise how much witchcraft "i did to get you accepted into the club without a visa? "do you think it was easy? "you say you have faith but you don't trust god "and the angels protecting you."

siren wails. before, i'll describe myself as a model, as a guru. now, i describe myself as a prisoner.

hello. it's a sunny sunday out there for the vast majority of us, and over the next few days, a lot of dry weather to come, and for some it's going to turn increasingly hot as well, particularly to the south and the east of the country. this morning, though, the dry weather has been courtesy of an area of high pressure, that high pressure lasts throughout the day. it means that the skies have been fairly clear, a little bit of fair weather cloud building up into the afternoon, although in the northern and western isles and the fringe of the high pressure, we still have a bit more cloud.

but even here some sunny spells, possible temperatures in these areas around 15 to 17 degrees with a little bit more breeze, more so light winds, strong sunshine overhead and temperatures more widely into the 20s today, peaking at around 26 or 27 celsius towards the south east corner, around 22, in the north east of scotland. now into this evening and overnight, we will see some clear skies across scotland, northern ireland. but cloud actually increases later in the night, maybe some patchy light drizzle into the western isles before dawn. we'll see clear skies elsewhere. coolest conditions probably towards the south in rural areas, but maybe 13 to isin northwest of scotland. we've got these weather fronts moving in for monday morning, so it brings a change here for monday across scotland and northern ireland. a lot more cloud compared with today. some outbreaks of rain, the western isles and then later in the day in the west of northern ireland. but most will be dry. and even though we'll have more clouds, still some sunny spells breaking through. a bit more high cloud across england and wales compared with today. but it's still going to be a sunny one nonetheless. and if anything, temperatures climb even further.

2a in the north east of scotland, 28, maybe 29, in the south east of england, and the humidity then builds through monday night into tuesday, the nights becoming warmer. that's warmth coming up from the near continent. tuesday could be the hottest day as far as temperatures are concerned, especially towards the southeast corner. we could see 2930, maybe 31 celsius down a little bit, though, compared with monday across scotland and northern ireland. that's because we still have more cloudier and slightly fresher air pushed in off the atlantic as we go into tuesday itself. for england and wales, though, plenty of sunshine but hazy in places and we could just start to see a few showers and thunderstorms brew in around the english channel late in the day. that's as this area of low pressure drifts its way up for the middle part of the week. wednesday could be a stormy one. it does bring about a change. introducing atlantic air for the end of the week. so as we start dry, sunny and for some hot temperatures will drop, but still warm in the sunshine between the downpours.

live from london, this is bbc news. funerals are taking place for a dozen young people killed by a rocket attack in the israeli—occupied golan heights. israel has blamed the lebanese militant group hezbollah, which denies involvement. it's day two of the paris 0lympics — and one of the most decorated gymnasts in history, simone biles, has returned to competition to try to add to herfour gold medals. venezuelans are voting in what's being seen as a pivotal presidential election — with president nicolas maduro trailing his rival in opinion polls. new video has emerged of the events leading up to a police officer kicking a man in the head

as he lay on the floor at manchester airport last week. the biggest wildfire to hit california this year is continuing to spread rapidly, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes. hello. thousands of people have gathered in the town of majdal shams, in the israeli—occupied golan heights, for the funerals of 12 young people killed by a rocket attack on saturday. the victims are from the druze arab community and were playing football at the time of the strike. israel has blamed hezbollah for the deaths and says it has struck a series of targets linked to the group deep inside lebanon. hezbollah had denied involvement in saturday's attack. us secretary of state antony blinken has warned against further military escalation. 0ur diplomatic correspondent paul adams is in the israeli occupied golan heights at the site of saturday's attack.