OneTaste sues ex-worker for breaking her NDA as it claims she flipped on the 'orgasmic meditation cult' when her ex-boyfriend fell in love with another woman who she punched in the face before quitting

OneTaste is suing a former worker after she allegedly broke a non-disclosure agreement by launching a 'malicious crusade' against the company.

The 'orgasmic meditation cult' claims Ayries Blanck is in breach of their $325,000 settlement for voicing her hatred of the firm since she left in 2014.

It argues in a lawsuit that she had previously 'loved OneTaste and its staff 'and 'consistently had sex with other members' while living in New York City.

But it claims she changed after she split up with her boyfriend in 2014 and he found love elsewhere.

The documents say she flew to Los Angeles and confronted the other woman before punching her in the face and dramatically quitting the company.

It comes as OneTaste's founder Nicole Daedone was indicted for allegedly keeping women in residential warehouses where they were forced into sex acts.

Blanck became involved with OneTaste in 2012 and was 'positive' about her involvement until 2014 when she split with her partner, the lawsuit claims.

The legal documents, seen by DailyMail.com, claim Blanck said she wanted to 'f***ing kill' her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend – who he met through a OneTaste event in LA.

The lawsuit comes after founder Daedone, 56, and Rachel Cherwitz, 43, were hit with a federal indictment, which accused them of forcing volunteers, contractors, and employees into sex acts using cult-like tactics.

Prosecutors say the alleged victims were kept under surveillance and made dependent on Daedone and Cherwitz for shelter and basic necessities.

They have been charged with conspiracy to violate federal laws prohibiting the use of forced labor.

Prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York have now filed to pause the civil litigation of OneTaste against Blanck, claiming that she is a 'possible witness' in the federal case.

But lawyers for the San Francisco-based company told DailyMail.com that the filing is 'unconstitutional', adding that pausing the case would be 'ludicrous'.

Ed McPherson said: 'Blanck signed a settlement agreement years ago that obligated her not to reveal certain confidential information and not to disparage One Taste. We understand now that she has done both.

'The crux of the case is that she fraudulently induced OneTaste into signing the agreement, knowing that she was never going to comply.

'Five years is a pretty excessive period in which to be investigating someone, especially when ultimately they came up with two indictments of individuals, but didn't indict the company.

'And yet, they're kind of coming after the company by trying to remove its constitutional right to, to pursue a civil suit against this woman.

'They use buzzwords, like in the interest of justice and all these other things that really kind of mean nothing.

'You shouldn't get to come into my case where I'm trying to prosecute a case on behalf of a company against a woman who clearly breached her contract and is out there saying all kinds of lies.

'It's hurt the company really has. Just because she says those same lies to the Eastern District of New York doesn't mean that she gets a pass.

'I just don't understand how they think they can keep this off grid and have some kind of secret trial where we don't get to confront their witness - that's unconstitutional in the US.

'The articles came out, the podcast came out and other things have come out. And we didn't know that she was behind it until fairly recently.'

Blanck filed a lawsuit against the company in August of 2015, claiming they subjected her to a 'hostile work environment, sexual harassment, failure to pay minimum wage and intentional infliction of emotional distress'.

The lawsuit also claimed OneTaste 'forced and manipulated her into having sex and taking part in orgasmic meditation with OneTaste staff, supervisors, and customers'. These claims are denied by the company.

But the new suit argues that following her ex-partners new relationship, Blanck begged Cherwitz to end his new relationship, which she said she could not do.

Both parties then attended a mediation, with OneTaste saying in the suit the 'cost of defending the case would exceed the amount' for which they could settle – despite denying the allegations.

Blanck then signed a settlement agreement confirming that she would not 'disparage OneTeste or its officers, or incite others to do so'.

Their suit claims Blanck continued with a 'vendetta' against the company despite the settlement and 'chose to repeat the false claims'.

OneTaste claims that Blanck laughed when asked if she signed an NDA, saying 'Whatever I'm going to do what I want'.

She is also accused of attempting to connect former OneTaste customers and staff members with journalists and admitted being offered money to appear in a Netflix documentary according to the suit.

Blanck does not directly appear in the series, but her sister instead speaks on her behalf – calling the company a 'cult'.

The lawsuit states that the documentary is a 'fictional tale', and insist that they have never 'silenced' Blanck or anyone else.

It goes on to say: 'Significantly, although Blanck discussed with her closest friends every detail of every one of the many sexual encounters that she had while she was with OneTaste, whether she felt that they were enjoyable or disappointing, she never mentioned to a single one of her closest friends that she had experienced any of the events that were printed in the Bloomberg article, the subsequent media reports, or the Netflix Film.

'Moreover, during her time at OneTaste, she certainly never reported anything even close to rape or being forced to have sex with anyone, to any of her friends, to any of her roommates, to any OneTaste staff, or to any law enforcement agency.

'To the contrary, every text that she sent to her closest friends indicated how much fun she was having, seeking men out and having sex with them.

'Specifically, with respect to her claim that she was violently assaulted by her former boyfriend, such a claim was never made – even to her closest friends – before her former boyfriend started dating his subsequent girlfriend.'

Lawyers for OneTaste are seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory, exemplary and punitive damages – asking for the amount to be 'sufficient to punish or set an example.'

Speaking to DailyMail.com Anjuli Ayer CEO of OneTaste  - who is not accused of any wrongdoing - said: 'OneTaste is and has always been about women's empowerment. Orgasmic Meditation and OneTaste changed my life.

'I want every person to have access to what I've experienced. Unfortunately, as CEO and leader, the past five years have been consumed with countering baseless attacks on this mission. I am determined that we have our fair day in court.'

In the latest court hearing over the federal charges, lawyers for Cherwitz and Daedone claim that the government failed to show 'how they violated the forced labor statute.

According to the pair the indictment does not specify what 'forced labor' they supposedly obtained, nor does it provide key details such as when, where and how the alleged violations took place. Their filing states: 'Instead, the indictment is peppered with sensationalized allegations that have no nexus to its one criminal charge.

'Remarkably, this bare-bones, legally incognizant indictment is the culmination of a five-year government investigation into Ms. Cherwitz, Ms. Daedone and OneTaste, suggesting that the reason for the indictment's insufficiencies is not simply poor indictment drafting but a lack of evidence to support the single charge within it.'

Daedone and Cherwitz have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are free on $1 million and $300,000 bonds, respectively. OneTaste's current leadership team says they stand behind the defendants. The two are next scheduled to appear in court on July 26.

OM exploded in popularity following a 2009 New York Times profile of OneTaste, and at one point, the company was reportedly raking in $12 million a year from eager clients.

But in 2018, the FBI launched an investigation when ex-customers came forward saying they were left in debt after paying for expensive classes, and former employees said they were told to engage in sexual relations with potential clients to close sales.

Now, prosecutors say that between 2004 and 2018, Daedone and Cherwitz deployed a series of abusive and manipulative tactics in order to obtain the labor and services of a group of OneTaste members, including volunteers, contractors, and employees.

The indictment alleges that the duo used tactics designed to render the OneTaste members dependent on the group for their shelter and basic necessities and to limit members' independence and control.

Members of OM were allegedly kept in 'residential warehouses' where they were forced into sex acts.

OM involves a woman, naked from the waist down, having her clitoris 'stroked' for exactly 15 minutes by a man, either her own partner or another paying customer.

Prosecutors say the alleged victims were subjected to 'constant surveillance' and isolated from friends and family.

When members could no longer afford OneTaste classes, they were pressured to take on debt, and that at times Daedone and Cherwitz even assisted them in opening new credit cards, according to the indictment.

At one point, OneTaste operated centers in cities including New York, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas, Boulder, Los Angeles, Austin and London.

In New York City, OneTaste leased residences and hosted events in several different locations, including in Brooklyn and the Manhattan neighborhoods of Harlem, Hell's Kitchen, Soho and West Village.

Daedone has previously denied that she ran a sex cult, telling the Mail on Sunday last year: 'I want to continue the work of getting OM into the world. It is such a powerful practice and we have a world that is so starved of something that will bring a fundamental connection.'

Who is OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone? 

Nicole Daedone hails from California and described Silicone Valley as her 'home' in a 2013 lecture.

Before focusing her attentions on orgasmic meditation, the author and entrepreneur, The San Francisco State University graduate founded the 111 Minna Gallery in the SoMa district.

She went on to study with teachers of yoga, Kabbalah, and Buddhist meditation.  

It is thought Daedone was introduced to orgasmic meditation in the early 2000s by a Buddhist monk, who demonstrated the practice in a private session.

She founded OneTaste in 2004, packaging orgasmic meditation in a palatable format and by 2009 was on the cover of The New York Times' Style section.  

Daedone wrote a guide to orgasmic meditation, Slow Sex: the art and craft of the female orgasm, in 2012.  

In 2017, the company made $12 million in revenue.

What is orgasmic meditation or 'OM'?

Orgasmic meditation is a 15 minute partner practice that involves a woman removing her underwear and lying down on a 'nest' of pillows or another comfortable position.

The stroker, often a man, sits next to her on his own pillows and lightly and deliberately strokes her clitoris.

The stroker focuses solely on the upper-left-hand quadrant of the clitoris, the so-called 'one o'clock' position.

This continues for 15 minutes, until a timer goes off.   

The aim is not necessarily to orgasm but simply to 'feel' the sensation as intensely as possible.

It affects the same parts of the human brain as conventional meditation.

Vanity Fair named Daedone in its list of 'Twelve Women Who Changed the Way We Look at Sex' and around 900,000 people have viewed her Ted talk, entitled Orgasm, the Cure for Hunger in Western Woman.