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He was Brazil’s most famous faith healer whose “miracle surgeries” drew millions of pilgrims from across the globe.
Joao Teixeira de Faria - known as John of God - achieved international fame after being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey.
And Bill Clinton, singer Paul Simon and supermodel Naomi Campbell are among the other celebrities rumoured to have visited him.
His boasts of healing powers to cure diseases, including cancer, brought people flocking to his compound in the small town of Abadiania, central Brazil.
But two months ago, his world crumbled when he was accused of sexually abusing a Dutch woman, live on TV.
It led to a flood of similar allegations from more than 600 women from around the world.
Faria denies all the charges against him.
Over 600 women have accused Faria of sexual abuse (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The 77-year-old was arrested a week later in what prosecutors say could be the worst serial crimes case in the country’s history.
Faria’s own daughter, Dalva Teixeira, has also spoken out, called him a “monster” and claiming he molested her as a child.
The case has shocked Brazilians, many of whom regarded the so-called ‘psychic surgeon’ - famous for performing procedures such as removing tumours or cataracts with his hands and without anaesthesia - as a modern-day miracle worker.
And last week even more explosive acccusations have been thrown at John of God.
Brazilian activist Sabrina Bittencourt, whose investigations led to Teixeira’s arrest in December, now claims the celebrity medium ran a baby trafficking operation where children were “farmed” in Brazil before being sold to childless couples around the world.
Shockingly, she claims young girls were held captive in remote farms where they were forced to produce babies - before being murdered after 10 years of giving birth.
Faria was Brazil's most famous faith healer
In a video, Bittencourt, whose organisation, Coame, helps women report sexual assault by religious leaders, said she has spoken to women from at least three continents, including Europe, who claimed they bought Brazilian babies from John of God for as much as £40,000.
And she claimed she has collected testimony from former members of Teixeira’s gang, which described how the scheme worked after they became “tired of being complicit” in his crimes.
Bittencourt, who now lives outside Brazil under the protection of international organisations after receiving death threats for her work, claimed Teixeira would offer money to poor girls aged 14 to 18 to go and live in mineral mines or farms he owns in the Brazilian states of Goias and Minas Gerais.
There they would become sex slaves at and be forced to get pregnant and give birth to their babies.
She claims: “In exchange for food, they were impregnated and their babies sold on the black market.
“Hundreds of girls were enslaved over years, lived on farms in Goias, served as wombs to get pregnant, for their babies to be sold.
“These girls were murdered after 10 years of giving birth. We have got a number of testimonies.”
She added: “We have received reports from the adoptive mothers of their children that we sold for between £15,000 and £40,000 in Europe, USA and Australia, as well as testimony from ex-workers and local people who are tired of being complicit with John of God’s gang.”
Appealing for others with knowledge of Teixeira’s crimes to come forward, she said: “I ask that the embassies of Holland, USA and Australia demand an impeccable conduct from the Brazilian authorities.”
Celebrities including Oprah, Bill Clinton and Naomi Campbell are reported to have visited the medium (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The revelations will ignite even further anger in Brazil about the man who was once the country’s most celebrated faith healer and renowned around the world.
For nearly 20 years, John of God’s followers have flocked to the town of Abadiania, where his Casa de Dom Inacio centre is located, to be cured, blessed or enlightened by him.
The self-styled spiritual healer claims the spirits of more than 30 doctors and other entities can enter his body and that they perform the healings.
Oprah Winfrey vouched for João's spiritual healing powers after visiting him in 2010 where she nearly fainted during the “blissful” encounter.
The TV host featured her healing experience in a since-deleted episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show titled 'Leap of Faith: Meet John of God’, in which she described seeing him cut into the breast of ….. cont'd