Spanish opera star Plácido Domingo could have been a shopper of the Buenos Aires Yoga College, a intercourse trafficking ring that Argentine authorities dismantled final week after over 30 years, in line with sources near the investigation. A collection of wiretaps ordered by Choose Ariel Lijo embrace the recording of a shopper that prosecutors in Argentina have revealed to be the well-known tenor. Within the recording, the person speaks with a girl who calls herself Mendy, to whom he explains how their assembly ought to happen. The lady later speaks with the chief of the sect and celebrates that the shopper, allegedly Domingo, has already “organized the deal” in order that “[his] brokers don’t discover.” Sources near the case say that Plácido Domingo has not been charged with any crimes, however “an enormous quantity of paper and digital documentation” remains to be being reviewed. Domingo didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The phone dialog, whose date is unknown – although Domingo carried out on the Teatro Colón within the Argentine capital final April – was leaked on Tuesday afternoon. It consists of three elements. Within the first, Mendy and Juan Percowicz, the cult’s leaders, who had been arrested final Friday together with 20 different folks, resolve to just accept the request of the person who makes the decision. “Plácido stated that he may come to go to us, that’s, he’s going to come back to go to me. As a result of he’s about to go dwelling to New York and he remembered it yesterday,” says the girl within the recordings which are a part of the court docket file. As a result of significance of the assembly, Percowicz authorizes the usage of the so-called “Museum,” a constructing within the middle of Buenos Aires arrange for sexual encounters. In a second audio, the alleged voice of Plácido Domingo is heard giving directions to Mendy. “After we go away dinner, we are going to journey individually. We’ll do it that method as a result of my brokers are going to go as much as the room once I go up, and they’re going to keep on the identical ground,” says the person, who the investigation signifies is Plácido Domingo. He proceeds to point to the girl the variety of the room during which they need to meet. Having closed the deal, Mendy calls the boss again. “He referred to as me and put collectively a plan in order that I may keep within the lodge with out the brokers realizing it,” she tells Percowicz. “What a degenerate you’re,” he responds.
POLICÍA FEDERAL ARGENTINA – TÉLAM (POLICÍA FEDERAL ARGENTINA – TÉLA)
Plácido Domingo was one of many artists accused of sexual harassment throughout the #MeToo motion. In August 2019, the Related Press revealed that some 20 girls had accused him of sexual abuse. A lot of his exhibits had been canceled in consequence. He denied the accusations, however stories from the American Union of Musical Artists and the Los Angeles Opera – of which the singer was appointed director in 2003, a place he resigned on account of the scandal – concluded that the testimonies had been “credible” and that the tenor had engaged in “inappropriate habits.” He later apologized for the ache that he brought on the ladies. He has by no means been tried, charged or convicted of the accusations, and in 2021 he resumed performing.
A cult that hid a prostitution plot
Final Friday, the Argentine police carried out 50 raids and arrested 24 members of the Buenos Aires Yoga College. The detainees included Percowicz, an 84-year-old former notary and the group’s chief and founder. They’ve been charged with belonging to a cult that victimized a whole bunch of individuals who got here to the varsity looking for “happiness,” and as an alternative had been stripped of all their possessions, pressured into servitude and even prostituted.
The cult used textbook strategies to dupe their victims. They used hierarchical recruiting techniques disguised as philosophy programs and a well-oiled operation to maintain the cash flowing into their coffers. On the high of the seven-level pyramid stood Percowicz, who referred to as himself “Angel” or “Grasp.” Beneath him had been “Apostles” (degree six), “Geniuses” (degree 5), and “Pupils” (degree 4). Ranges 1-3 had been for abnormal people. In accordance with the indictment, the high-level members had been in command of the varied actions that channeled folks and sources to the group.
As soon as inside, the ladies had been pressured to endure a “geisha” apprenticeship, a euphemism for prostitution, and had been turned over to rich businessmen who paid for his or her companies. In return, the ladies had been awarded factors that enabled them to ascend to the subsequent degree of the pyramid. The “Pupils” additionally gave up their belongings and paid charges of between $250 and $1,000 a month, relying on their earnings. Percowicz is an previous acquaintance of the Argentine justice system. The Argentine justice system may be very conversant in Percowicz. In 1993, he was charged with the identical crimes which have now landed him in jail, however escaped justice when his case bounced round three totally different courts due to his connections with native politicians and worldwide human rights organizations. The costs towards Percowicz and the “yoga college” had been finally dropped again then, however nearly 30 years later, it’s time for Percowicz and his accomplices to face justice once more.
On the time of his arrest, he had greater than 1,000,000 {dollars} and nearly a kilo of gold bullion in his possession. The members of the group are unfold throughout Argentina and the US. In accordance with an Argentine police report, “the income obtained from the exploitation of all these folks – college students and sufferers – had been laundered by way of actual property brokers and a notary’s workplace, which the group has in our nation, and totally different foundations created in the US, thereby producing a continuing movement of international foreign money for stated group.”
