US founder of ‘orgasmic meditation’ startup indicted on forced labor charges
The founder of OneTaste, a sexual wellness company that claims to teach “orgasmic meditation”, has been charged with running a cult-like conspiracy involving forced labor, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Nicole Daedone, the founder who served as chief executive until 2017, and Rachel Cherwitz, the company’s former head of sales, were accused of inducing volunteers, contractors and employees to incur debt to take courses that they claimed could heal sexual trauma and dysfunction.
“The defendants advertised their company as being able to help individuals recover from past trauma,” said Michael Driscoll, the FBI assistant director-in-charge. “In reality, they allegedly targeted their victims in order to manipulate them not only into debt but to limit their independence and create a reliance on OneTaste for basic needs.”
Prosecutors with the US attorney’s office said the defendants also subjected OneTaste members to surveillance in communal homes, instructed them to engage in sex acts for “freedom and enlightenment” and failed to pay promised wages.
Daedone and Cherwitz’s “years-long scheme” subjected members to “economic, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse … indoctrination, and intimidation”, the US attorney’s office said in a statement announcing the charges.
“Under the guise of empowerment and wellness, the defendants are alleged to have sought complete control over their employees’ lives, including by driving them into debt and directing them to perform sexual acts while also withholding wages,” said Breon Peace, the US attorney.
The pair intentionally recruited people who had experienced prior trauma, the US attorney’s office said in a statement, and claimed OneTaste’s courses, which could cost up to tens of thousands of dollars, would heal them.
Those who couldn’t afford OneTaste were induced by Daedone and Cherwitz to incur debt and the executives sometimes helped new members open credit cards to pay for the courses, the statement said.
Daedone and Cherwitz are also accused of recruiting and grooming members to “engage in sexual acts with OneTaste’s current and prospective investors, clients, employees and beneficiaries” for their financial benefit.
Daedone, 56, is at large, while Cherwitz, 43, was arrested on Tuesday and is expected to appear in a California federal court. They both face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
Founded in 2004, California-based OneTaste was the subject of last year’s Netflix documentary Orgasm Inc, which followed its rise and the emergence of “disturbing allegations” from members.
The company was initially hailed for its women-centered approach, but after a 2018 report from Bloomberg in which former members claimed OneTaste led them to “sexual servitude and five-figure debts”, the FBI began an investigation.