It was a glamorous change from the criminals’ usual walk in front of Brooklyn Federal Courthouse.
The founder and former head of sales of ‘orgasmic meditation cult’ OneTaste dressed to impress as they appeared with an entourage of followers to face charges of forcing women to perform sexual acts and keeping them in ‘residential warehouses’.
But there were no dirty mugshots of Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz as they faced photographers outside a New York courthouse.
Her San Francisco-based company earned $12 million a year from its sexual dysfunction treatments for women, which included genital massages by a man wearing a latex glove.
She earned praise from celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Khloe Kardashian, and hosted 35,000 people at her events in 2018.
OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone (center) walked out of court today flanked by CEO Anjuli Ayer, former CEO Rachel Cherwitz and a group of supporters.
Nicole Daedone, 56, founder and former CEO of OneTaste, turned herself in in federal court in Brooklyn last year.
The company was earning $12 million a year from its seminars and treatment programs before an FBI investigation into abuse allegations.
But the FBI began investigating in November of that year after former clients came forward saying they were left in debt after paying for expensive classes, and former employees said they were ordered to have sexual relations with potential investors.
Former employee Ayries Blanck filed a lawsuit against the company in August 2015, alleging that she was subjected to a “hostile work environment, sexual harassment, failure to pay minimum wage, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
But the group countersued her for breaking a confidentiality agreement when she contributed to the 2022 Netflix documentary Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste in 2022.
Blanck’s sister Autymn repeated accusations that OneTaste “condoned violence” and “found strangers to rape her.”
Prosecutors say Daedone and former sales manager Rachel Cherwitz deployed a series of abusive and manipulative tactics against volunteers, contractors and employees.
They also claim that the duo made OneTaste members dependent on the group for their shelter and basic needs and limited their independence and control.
The company operated in 39 cities, including New York, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas, Boulder, Los Angeles, Austin and London, but some former clients alleged they were “raped” after becoming involved with the company, with one telling the BBC. she was attacked by a man named ‘Jake’.
The company closed all of its U.S. locations in 2018 and suspended all in-person classes, and Ayer, who became CEO in 2017, is not facing charges.
But last year he told Dailymail.com that the allegations are “completely false” and that consent is the “first” thing they teach.
“I did not expect a five-year media campaign of negative accusations against us,” he added.
The group promoted the ‘orgasmic meditation’ that Nicole Daedone demonstrated to former CEO Rachel Cherwitz at this Los Angeles event in 2022.
Former employee Ayries Blanck claimed the company “forced her to have sexual relations and engage in orgasmic meditation with OneTaste staff, supervisors and customers.”
“You take women and you take sexuality and then you hang out with a couple of people who are upset in some way and want to tell lies.”
“This is not about Nicole and Rachel being accused, but about Eros being accused. And this is, in a way, even among the people in that courtroom, a conversation between women.
Daedone and Cherwitz have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are free on bonds of $1 million and $300,000, respectively, but face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The company has already spent $15 million on legal fees and a judge at today’s conference hearing set the trial to begin in January of next year.