Argentina Sex Cult Probe: Opera Star Placido Dominguez in the List of Those Being Investigated

Police in Argentina have raided a famous yoga school in Buenos Aires, and its founder may have been running a sex cult used for sex trafficking women.

Local reports said the women were called "geishas" and were paid to engage in sexual acts with people of power. So far, 19 arrests have been made, including the yoga school's founder, Juan Percowicz. Three suspects are still at large and believed to be hiding in the U.S.

Argentinian police alleged that the yoga school was actually a "transnational criminal organization" that not only operates in Argentina but also in three U.S. cities, namely Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas.

Placido Domingo and Other Classical Musicians Also Caught Up in the Investigation in Argentina

Buenos Aires police have released a list of those allegedly involved in the sex cult. According to the Associated Press, one of these names includes Spanish opera star Placido Domingo.

Domingo has been facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct through the years. However, a law enforcement official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, told AP that the Spanish opera legend did not commit any crime.

The law enforcement official said Domingo was not part of the alleged sex cult but was described as a "consumer of prostitution." Domingo and his representatives have not yet spoken out publicly about the investigation.

According to Argentine authorities, wiretaps recorded conversations between the opera star and a cult member identified as Susana Mendelievich, a world-famous Argentinian pianist. They talked about meeting up while Domingo was in Buenos Aires for his scheduled April concerts in the city.

The investigation into the cult revealed that many people with connections to classical music, including Mendelievich, were implicated. According to investigators, Mendelievich, 75, also oversaw the sect's sexual exploitation activities.

Mendelievich had called the cult leader, Percowicz, to confirm that she had set up the deal so she could stay in the hotel without his staff knowing about her being there.

The pianist, who also previously worked with other big names in classical music such as Veronica Loiacono, Astor Piazzolla, and Mstislav Rostropovich, was one of the 19 people arrested in the raids into the cult, according to NPR.

What Did the Cult in Argentina Do?

According to Vice News, the cult pretty much worked like a pyramid scheme as it operated in at least four cities. Members who reach the seventh level of "spiritual evolution" in the yoga school will supposedly gain what they call "eternal reincarnation."

However, according to the charges sent to Interpol, the Yoga School of Buenos Aires "built a cult around its leader" and forced members into slavery or sexual exploitation.

It is reported that teenagers, in particular, were sexually exploited. There was also a wide-ranging conspiracy surrounding the cult, and it was involved in a slew of other crimes, including "trafficking in persons for the purpose of reduction to servitude, aggravated coercion, aggravated robbery, money laundering, illicit association, the illegal exercise of medicine, irregular sale of medicines, and influence peddling."

Police in Argentina worked with the U.S. Bureau of Diplomatic Security in the investigation that led to the police raiding 50 yoga school locations across Argentina on August 12.

They seized cash, gold, silver, and various properties, including a box of pornographic VHS tapes. The group faced criminal allegations related to sexual exploitation in the early 90s before the charges were eventually junked.

Head of the Argentine Federal Police human trafficking division Ricardo Juri told Vice News that many of the recently arrested were "the same people as 30 years ago."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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