Founders of orgasm meditation 'cult' OneTaste are convicted of forcing staff into sick sex act with clients
Nicole Daedone, who founded women's sex-focused wellness company OneTaste Inc., and the company's sales director Rachel Cherwitz, were each found guilty of forced labor charges in a Brooklyn court on Monday.
The duo face up to 20 years behind bars each when they're sentenced.
Jurors took just two days to deliberate on the evidence presented over five weeks and sided with prosecutors who presented a case that the women ran a yearslong scheme that groomed staff — many of them victims of sexual trauma — to do their bidding.
Daedone, 57, and Cherwitz, 44, used economic, sexual and psychological abuse, intimidation and indoctrination to force OneTaste members into sexual acts they found uncomfortable or repulsive, including having sex with prospective investors or clients, prosecutors argued.
The duo told followers the acts were necessary in order to obtain 'freedom' and 'enlightenment' and demonstrate their commitment to the organization's principles.
Prosecutors said OneTaste leaders didn't pay the members-turned-workers what they were promised and even forced some of them to take out new credit cards to continue taking the company's courses.
Assistant US Attorney Nina Gupta said the defendants 'built a business on the backs' of victims who 'gave everything' to them, including 'their money, their time, their bodies, their dignity, and ultimately their sanity.'
Witnesses compared the organization to a cult, referencing the idolization of Daedone and communal living arrangements within OneTaste.
Gupta said: 'The defendants created an environment where OneTaste was not just a company.
'It was an entire way of life, complete with its own rituals, language and philosophy.'
Under questioning, co-founder Robert Kandell accepted OneTaste could be considered a cult in the same way CrossFit, veganism or the Catholic church could be considered cults.
Daedone's defense team cast her as a 'ceiling-shattering feminist entrepreneur' who created a unique business around women's sexuality and empowerment.
Cherwitz's lawyer, Celia Cohen, argued that the witnesses who testified weren't forced to do anything. When they didn't like the organization anymore or wanted to try other things, she said, they simply left.
'No matter what you think about OneTaste and what they were doing, they chose it. They knew what it was about,' she said in her closing statement last week.
'The fact they are regretting the actions that they took when they were younger is not evidence of a crime.'
Lawyers for the defendants said their clients maintain their innocence and intend to appeal.
'We are deeply disappointed in today's verdict,' the lawyers said in a statement Monday. 'This case raised numerous novel and complex legal issues that will require review by the Second Circuit.'
Daedone co- founded OneTaste in San Francisco in 2004 as a self-help commune that viewed female orgasms as key to sexual and psychological wellness.
A centerpiece was 'orgasmic meditation,' or 'OM,' which was carried out by men manually stimulating women in a group setting.
Portrayed as a cutting-edge enterprise that prioritized women's sexual pleasure, it generated revenue by providing courses, coaching, OM events, and other sexual practices for a fee.
Daedone sold her stake in the company in 2017 for $12 million — a year before OneTaste's marketing and labor practices came under scrutiny.
The company's current owners, who have rebranded it as the Institute of OM Foundation, have said its work has been misconstrued and the charges against its former executives were unjustified.
They maintain sexual consent has always been a cornerstone of the organization
Joseph Nocella, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, described the duo as 'grifters' and celebrated Monday's verdict.
'The jury's verdict has unmasked Daedone and Cherwitz for who they truly are: grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants' benefit,' he said.
OneTaste was featured in the 2022 Netflix 'true crime ' documentary Orgasm Inc: the Story of OneTaste, which featured former worker Ayries Blanck and her journals, which painted a dark picture of the workplace.
But in March Blanck's journals were thrown out of court under defense pressure – and prosecutors said she was no longer considered a key witness.
'The government no longer believes that the disputed portions of the handwritten journals are authentic,' prosecutors wrote to the judge.
They said the diaries were transcribed years later.
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