Yoga organisation reportedly used members as “geishas”


According to interviews with former members and local authorities, an Argentine yoga organisation used weak women it referred to as “geishas” for sexual exploitation to gain funding and influence from wealthy and influential men around the world, including opera star Placido Domingo, who knew the leaders of the organisation for more than 20 years.

An extensive investigation into the sect-like Buenos Aires Yoga School, which was active in Argentina’s capital for more than 30 years, has revealed what the authorities are calling a criminal organisation that engages in sex trafficking, money laundering, forced labour, the practise of medicine without a licence, and other offences.

In the inquiry that extends into the United States and is looking for six further suspects, 19 members have been detained.

The school did not really provide yoga courses, despite its name. Charges against leaders allege that they exploited promises of everlasting pleasure to get individuals to join their ranks before using them financially and sexually.

Former students and investigators for the school told The Associated Press that the organisation required female members to serve as “geishas” who were expected to engage in sex while welcoming visitors to the institution.

According to the charge papers, powerful or affluent men were paired with members of the “Geishado VIP,” one of several groups of women who were compelled to have sex in return for cash and power that benefitted sect leaders.

Authorities said that some of the women were transferred to Uruguay and the United States to engage in sexual activity with males, a behaviour that amounted to slavery.

Former member Pablo Salum revealed orgies and child sex abuse while claiming that his mother and sister were among the women victimised in Argentina.

He said that younger children were forced to witness sexual activities.

“The leader instructed you who you had to have sexual intercourse with when you were 11 or 12 years old,” he stated.

Salum claims his mother enrolled him in the group when he was eight years old, and he quit at the age of 14. The present probe was sparked in part by his charges.

According to the investigation records and a police officer, some members of the group were placed in “a position of slavery,” compelled to have sexual interactions, and given menial tasks at the school including cleaning and cooking.

According to a former member called Carlos, who begged to only be identified by his first name since he left the organisation many years ago and couldn’t corroborate specifics from the present inquiry, male and female “slaves” were expected to obey commands without questioning them.

After law enforcement officials conducted many raids on the school in Buenos Aires in August, Domingo became involved in the issue.

According to a law enforcement source in Argentina who, like other police and judicial sources in Buenos Aires, spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, the renowned tenor was “a consumer of prostitution” but isn’t accused of a crime because prostitution is legal in Argentina.

Authorities have made available recordings of wiretapped phone conversations earlier this year in which a man they have identified as Domingo appears to be setting up a sexual encounter at his hotel in April in Buenos Aires with Susana Mendelievich, a concert pianist who authorities claim was a sect leader in charge of the “Geishado VIP.”

In one of the wiretaps, Mendelievich converses with a different sect leader about how the organisation had attempted in vain for years to bring Domingo into the fold via its musical ties, but that it was worthwhile trying again when he was in Buenos Aires in April for a series of performances.

In a different wiretap, Mendelievich requests permission from sect head Juan Percowicz to take Domingo to “the museum,” their 10-story building’s top level where powerful men have sex with group members.

In the raids in August, Mendelievich, 75, and Percowicz, 84, were imprisoned; this week, both were freed under house arrest.

Domingo has made an effort to publicly dissociate himself from the organisation, which is said to have had offices around the country.

Domingo, 81, stated last week in response to the group’s suspected unlawful actions, “Of course, I have nothing to do with it.”

Despite not denying that he was the individual in the wiretapped tapes, Domingo expressed his disappointment in the artists he had thought of as friends in statements to a television station in Mexico, where he was on tour.

“It saddens me when you learn you’ve been taken advantage of after having pals for a long time.”

Numerous inquiries from the AP for an interview or remark have gone unanswered by Domingo via his agents.

One of the greatest opera singers of all time, Domingo, was accused of harassing multiple women, many of whom came forward to the AP in 2019.

More than 20 women came forward to accuse Domingo of inappropriate and sexually charged behaviour.

These actions allegedly included groping and other unwanted touching, persistent late-night phone calls, stalking them in changing rooms, and pressuring them into relationships by promising advancements in the opera industry.

Many of the ladies said that when they turned down his advances, he punished them professionally.

At the time, the Spanish opera singer denied any misconduct and expressed his regret for having offended ladies.

Sexual harassment claims against Domingo were deemed to be genuine after investigations by the American Guild of Musical Artists and the Los Angeles Opera, where he had previously worked as general director, were conducted.

Although Domingo continues to play around the rest of the globe, the accusations and subsequent rulings put an end to his career in the United States.

The opera singer has once again received unwelcome attention as a result of the Argentinean disclosures.

The organiser of a Domingo performance in neighbouring Chile revealed last week that the event had been postponed; however, the promoter claimed that the cancellation was due to logistical issues. The concert was set to take place on October 16 in an arena in Santiago.

Authorities claim that the organisation also targeted other influential figures, although they have not yet revealed their identities.

However, according to authorities, they are scouring hard drives and “boxes and boxes” of sexual images and videotapes that were confiscated during the searches.

According to judicial authorities, the organisation organised several filmed sexual encounters that took place at its school in Buenos Aires.

In the 1990s, Domingo visited the school numerous times, including once as the special guest at a dinner party held there, according to Carlos, who spoke to the AP.

Carlos claimed to have worked as a server at the celebration thrown in Domingo’s honour, when the singer generously offered to fly some of the group’s leaders to Europe with him on an impending trip.

Carlos, who quit the group in 1999 after ten years, recalled Placido Domingo telling the group to go to Europe over the meal. He extended an invitation to Europe to everyone at the table.

According to Carlos, it was well known at the school that Rubén D’Artagnan González, Verónica Iacono, and Mendelievich joined Domingo on his trip.

The three were reportedly at Domingo’s table together with other classical musicians who the police claim were members of the group’s leadership.

González, who passed away in 2018, held the position of concertmaster for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 1996 and is said to have played a significant part in the organization’s American activities. Iacono, a soprano from New York who sang under the stage name “Loiacono,” is wanted internationally.

Mariano Krawczyk, another purported leader, is an oboist who also performs under the stage name Mariano Krauz.

Although Domingo has refused to comment, it is unknown how closely he is connected to the group’s musicians on a personal or professional level.

However, Domingo has shared the stage with a number of others who have been detained, most notably in 1996 at a performance that also included Krawczyk and the three persons he is said to have brought to Europe.

A section of “Marked Cards,” an opera written by Iacono, Mendelievich, González, and Krawczyk based on a book by Percowicz, the founder and head of the Buenos Aires Yoga School, was performed by Domingo and Iacono at that Buenos Aires event.

According to charge papers, participants were encouraged to engage in sexual activity as a means of “healing” and as a way to advance through the school’s rigid seven-level structure, which put Percowicz at the top.

According to former members who spoke with AP, Percowicz was referred to as “El Maestro.”

According to the documentation from the prosecution, Iacono, Krawczyk, and Mendelievich were all classified at the seventh level.

González was reportedly at the top of the organisation before his death, according to a legal source who has seen the group’s records. Krawczyk was detained along with others.

Members might sign over assets and give money to progress more swiftly. Approximately half a million dollars in money were generated by the gang each month, according to a legal representative.

According to the investigating records, cult members included attorneys and accountants who counselled leaders on a sophisticated money-laundering network that involved establishing corporations and purchasing real estate in Argentina and the United States.

Members reportedly offered “sleep cures,” which effectively included giving individuals medicines to put them to sleep for days on end, as medical remedies for a variety of illnesses, including AIDS and drug addiction.

Authorities claim that the group’s clinic, CMI Abasto, has subsidiaries in the United States, where the phoney medical procedures were also carried out.


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