Featured Image Credit: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Topics: Court, Crime, Sex and Relationships, US News
Ella Scott
Topics: Court, Crime, Sex and Relationships, US News
Nicole Daedone, co-founder and former CEO of sexual wellness education company OneTaste, has been sentenced to nine years’ jail time for her role in a ‘forced labor conspiracy’, as per the Eastern District of New York’s US Attorney’s Office.
On Monday (March 30), the 58-year-old attended federal court in Brooklyn after a jury convicted her of conspiring to coerce OneTaste practitioners to perform sexual services for clients and investors.
The decade-long scheme allegedly saw the so-called ‘orgasm cult' leader and Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste’s former Head of Sales, using ‘psychological, emotional, and financial’ methods to control their victims and ‘extract labor and services for their own benefit’, according to United States Attorney Joseph Nocella.
“The jury’s verdict and today’s sentences demonstrate that coercion can take many forms - and that those who exploit others through such means will face serious consequences,” he continued, explaining that ‘coercion, disguised as wellness or empowerment, is still exploitation’.
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“It is a crime that causes harm to vulnerable victims. The defendants’ combination of forced labor with sexual exploitation caused trauma to the victims in ways that extend beyond lost wages or long hours,” Nocella added.
The court imposed a $12 million forfeiture money judgment against Daedone, who will spend nine years behind bars.
It is the same amount she sold OneTaste for in 2017, as per Courthouse News.
She also owes almost $900,000 in restitution to seven of her victims.
Cherwitz was also sentenced by Judge Diane Gujarati to 78 months in prison for her role in the ‘egregious, insidious’ scheme, as per officials.
“The FBI is committed to holding accountable those who traffic in human labor and exploit others for profit,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle.
“We thank the victims for their courage in coming forward.”
OneTaste, co-founded in 2004 by Daedone, previously marketed ‘orgasmic meditation’ (OM) as the ultimate wellness practice.
The company shot to international attention after it became the subject of Netflix documentary Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste in 2022.
Its controversial sessions saw clothed people, known as ‘strokers’, stimulating a ‘strokee’ on the upper-left quadrant of their clitoris for 15 minutes, as per News.com.au.
In a 2011 TEDx talk posted to YouTube, the so-called ‘pioneer of women's sexual liberation’ explained that she discovered ‘orgasmic meditation’ when a man approached her at a party.
Annual memberships costing $60,000 were available with workshops, demonstrations, and coaching programs also on offer, the publication reported.
Five years after its launch, OneTaste developed its cult-like following after a profile was published on the front page of the New York Times’ Style section, as per NPR.
Allegations of abuse first came to light in 2018 - a year after Daedone sold the company and around the same time that Cherwitz resigned from her post.
One ex-OneTaste employee told the court on Monday that she ‘trusted’ her former boss and that she had unfortunately ‘fell into [her] trap’.
According to the New York Post, the woman, known as Michal, explained: “I was a perfect target because I was a vulnerable woman looking to improve my life.”
During the court case, multiple witnesses testified that they were coerced into performing various sex acts with OneTaste’s potential clients and investors ‘under threat of termination, demotion, ostracism, and financial and spiritual ruin’.
Other witnesses testified at trial, informing the jury how they were allegedly coerced into becoming ‘handlers’ for OneTaste’s initial investor, who was also Daedone’s boyfriend, as per the Attorney’s office.
They claimed that they had to live with the man, perform sex acts at his direction, and provide domestic labor for him, officials said.
Judge Gujarati told the court that Daedone’s actions ‘stripped victims of their dignity’ and that she did not seem to appear ‘remorseful’ of them.
Anjuli Ayer, current CEO of OneTaste, which has since rebranded to the Institute of OM, called the sentencing of Daedone and Cherwitz ‘a terrifying day for freedom’.
Speaking to reporters outside of the courthouse, she continued: “Once persuasion becomes a crime, anyone can be a defendant, and anyone can be a victim. We must correct the record or everyone will suffer.”
Daedone’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said that despite the conviction, there are ‘many people today who see Nicole Daedone as a transformative force’.
Daedone declined to address the court amid her sentencing, leaning over to the microphone and saying ‘no, thank you’ when asked if she would like to speak, reports stated.