Argentina yoga school ran a sex sect: 19 arrested so far

The Argentine Federal Police has carried out dozens of raids targeting a sect-like organization leaders have been charged with crimes, including sexual exploitation.

Video shared by the police on Thursday showed multiple operations which took place last week in the capital against the Buenos Aires Yoga School.

The school “built a cult around its leader” and reduced members to “a situation of slavery and/or sexual exploitation” according to prosecutors' documents in the Argentine case against the school.

The organization set up a business structure that included offices in Argentina and the United States, including branches in at least three U.S. cities: Las Vegas, Chicago and New York.

So far, 19 people have been detained in Argentina, while at least three suspects are thought to remain at large inside the South American country and four are being sought in the United States.

The name of Placido Domingo, the Spanish opera singer who has faced accusations of sexual harassment from numerous women over the past three years, has appeared in the investigation but he has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the Argentina case.

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Domingo has not spoken publicly about the latest developments and his representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Sexual trafficking and exploitation were the main sources of income for the group that had an estimated revenue of around $500,000 per month, according to the judicial official.

The Buenos Aires Yoga School had numerous groups of women who were forced to maintain sexual encounters in exchange for money, prosecutors allege.

At least seven women were incorporated into the group when they were still children or teenagers and were sexually exploited, according to the prosecution's documents.

People came from the United States to Argentina to have sex with the women and investigators say women were also transported to neighboring Uruguay and the U.S. for sexual encounters.