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Placido Domingo’s name comes up in sex sect probe

Opera star Placido Domingo’s name has appeared in an investigation of a sect-like organization in Argentina that also had U.S. offices and whose leaders have been charged with crimes, including sexual exploitation.

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

“Placido Domingo didn’t commit a crime, nor is he part of the organization, but rather he was a consumer of prostitution,” said a law enforcement official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the investigation continues. Prostitution is not illegal in Argentina.

Law enforcement officers have carried out dozens of raids in Buenos Aires targeting the Buenos Aires Yoga School, which “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.

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

Wiretaps that were part of the judicial investigation recorded conversations in which a man who authorities identify as Placido Domingo spoke to a member of the group, identified as Susana Mendelievich, about meeting up with the opera star while he was in Buenos Aires for a series of concerts in April.

The investigation into the sect has implicated people with connections to the classical music world and who performed with Domingo in the past, including Mendelievich, an Argentine pianist.

Mendelievich is alleged to be the person in charge of the organization’s sexual exploitation activities, according to a judicial official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

In one recording, the man identified as Placido Domingo talks to Mendelievich about how she can go up to his hotel room without being detected by his staff.