It made for a glamorous change to the usual perp walk outside Brooklyn Federal Court.
The founder and the ex-sales boss at ‘orgasmic meditation cult’ OneTaste dressed to impress as they appeared with an entourage of supporters to face charges of forcing women into sex acts and keeping them in ‘residential warehouses’.
But there were no grimy mugshots for Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz as they faced down photographers outside the New York courthouse.
Their San Francisco based company was making $12 million a year from their sexual disfunction treatments for women which included being genitally massaged by a man with a latex glove.
It won praise from celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Khloe Kardashian, and welcomed 35,000 people to its events in 2018.
OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone, center, strode out of court today flanked by CEO Anjuli Ayer, former CEO Rachel Cherwitz and a bevy of supporters
Nicole Daedone, 56, founder and former CEO of OneTaste, surrendered at the Brooklyn federal courthouse last year
The company was making $12 million a year through its seminars and treatment programs before an FBI investigation into allegations of abuse
But the FBI began investigating in November that year after ex-customers came forward saying they were left in debt after paying for expensive classes, and former employees said they were ordered to have sex with potential investors.
Former staffer Ayries 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’.
But she was counter-sued by the group for breaking a non-disclosure agreement when she contributed to the 2022 Netflix documentary Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste in 2022.
Blanck’s sister Autymn repeated allegations that OneTaste ‘condoned violence’ and ‘found strangers to rape her’.
Prosecutors say that Daedone and former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz deployed a series of abusive and manipulative tactics against volunteers, contractors, and employees.
They also claim the duo rendered OneTaste members dependent on the group for their shelter and basic necessities 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 customers alleged that they were ‘raped’ after becoming involved in the company, with one telling the BBC she was attacked by a man called ‘Jake’.
The company closed all of their US locations in 2018 halting all in-person classes, and Ayer, who became CEO in 2017 is not facing charges.
But she told Dailymail.com last year the allegations are ‘totally false’, and that consent is the ‘first thing’ they teach.
‘I did not anticipate a five-year snowballed media campaign of negative allegations against us,’ she added.
The group promoted ‘orgasmic meditation’ which Nicole Daedone demonstrated on former CEO Rachel Cherwitz at this LA event in 2022
Former staffer Ayries Blanck claimed the company ‘forced her into having sex and taking part in orgasmic meditation with OneTaste staff, supervisors, and customers’
‘You take women and you take sexuality and then you put it together with a couple of people who are upset in some way and want to tell lies.’
‘This is not Nicole and Rachel indicted, this is Eros indicted. And this is in a way, even amongst the people in that courtroom, it’s a conversation between women.
Daedone and Cherwitz have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are free on $1 million and $300,000 bonds, respectively, but they face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The company has already spent $15million on legal fees and a judge at today’s conference hearing penciled in January next year for the start of the trial.
