Founder of ‘orgasm cult’ OneTaste charged over forced labor and sexual abuse scheme

New York Post/June 6, 2023

By Kyle Schnitzer

The founder of a wellness company focused on “orgasmic meditation” allegedly ran the business like a cult — coercing and grooming members into having sex with investors and clients for more than a decade, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Nicole Daedone — founder of “orgasm cult” OneTaste — and the controversial company’s former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz were each charged with forced labor conspiracy for the scheme, which ran from 2004 to 2018, the feds said.

The two women allegedly targeted recruits who had suffered prior trauma, claiming they could teach them to heal past sexual trauma and dysfunction.

Instead, they forced members and employees to rack up debt and subjected them to “economic, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse” as well as “surveillance, indoctrination and intimidation” in order to get them to work for free.

Daedone, 56, and Cherwitz, 43, allegedly forced the members to live in communal homes and collected intimate details about their lives — before instructing them to engage in “uncomfortable or repulsive” sex acts, telling them they would obtain “freedom and enlightenment” and show their commitment to the company by doing so.

If directives were not followed, the pair subjected members to public shame, humiliation and workplace retaliation, prosecutors said.

Founded in San Francisco in 2004, OneTaste — which also had operations in cities including New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Denver — was the subject of the 2022 Netflix documentary “Orgasm Inc.,” which detailed the rise and fall of the company.

In 2018, former OneTaste staffers and members claimed the company resembled a prostitution ring that exploited trauma victims and put people into debt, according to Bloomberg.

Cherwtiz, who lives in Philo, California, was arrested Tuesday morning and was expected to appear in federal court in San Francisco Wednesday. Daedone, who lives in San Diego, remains at large.

If convicted, both Daedone and Cherwitz face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

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