A Brazilian influencer has been accused of involvement in a sex-trafficking ring in the United States run by multi-millionaire fashion mogul Peter Nygard.
The two victims who accused Nygard now say that the influencer, identified as Suelyn Medeiros, as well as a fashion agent and a modelling agency, recruited women to participate in the scheme.
Two criminal cases related to the accusations are currently underway in US courts.
In one of the lawsuits, Medeiros is accused of inviting the victim identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe to an island of The Bahamas in 2010, when she was just 18, where the teenager was raped by the businessman.
Jane Doe filed the case on 22nd October.
Court documents reveal that the now-29-year-old met Medeiros through social media after she saw her in a Chris Brown music video.
After chatting online and at a party in Miami hosted by Medeiros, the influencer invited her on the trip and only told her that she was obliged to have sex with Nygard when she arrived on the island.
In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Doe said: “I can’t breathe. I can’t face the world because of that, because I feel like so much light and happiness was taken from me.”
Court documents allege: “While confined within the Nygard compound, Medeiros instructed Jane Doe that she was required to have sex with Nygard against Jane Doe’s wishes, stating that she shouldn’t worry because sex with Nygard ‘wasn’t that bad’ and would be ‘really fast and easy’.”
Court documents claim that Medeiros spent at least five years living at Nygard’s Marina del Rey compound and received gifts such as cash, jewellery, plastic surgery and cars in exchange for sex trafficking victims.
Medeiros is 34 years old and reportedly not very well known in Brazil, though she did hit local headlines in July this year after she unsuccessfully tried to flee from police at the popular Arpoador beach spot in the city of Rio de Janeiro, who approached her for not wearing a mask.
The police arrested the allegedly incoherent influencer and found drugs hidden in her underwear. They later charged her for drug possession.
Medeiros has worked as a model and actress but is mainly known for her social media following, with 2.6 million followers on Instagram.
The curvy influencer has been nicknamed the “Brazilian Kim Kardashian”, though the “Brazilian Ghislaine Maxwell” is now seen as a more apt moniker.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
