Prosecutors lay out forced labor case against leaders of orgasm-focused sex ed company

BROOKLYN (CN) — Prosecutors on Tuesday previewed their case against two women accused of exerting full control over their employees’ lives and manipulating them into doing menial and sexual labor for little to no pay.

Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz face a count each of forced labor conspiracy stemming from their conduct while running OneTaste, a Bay Area-based company Daedone founded to teach a 15-minute sexual practice she created as a path toward higher meaning, deeper connection and healing from past trauma.

The pair lured vulnerable women into the community, targeting those who suffered past trauma; isolated them from the outside world; and drove them into debt as they were tasked with cooking, cleaning, gardening, providing sexual favors for investors and catering to Daedone’s every need, prosecutors said during opening statements.

“These victims came to OneTaste seeking personal growth. They left as shells of their former selves,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Fern said. “And what did the defendants get out of this? Power, prestige and money.”

While members shared beds in crowded communal housing and worked long hours, Daedone and Cherwitz enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, Fern said.

Despite the reference to profit, U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati opted not to let the government reveal to jurors in openings that Daedone, now 57, sold OneTaste in 2017 for $12 million. The request should have come in sooner, Gujarati said.

The group’s flagship practice involves a partner, typically a man, stroking a woman’s genitals for a period of 15 minutes. Daedone calls it “orgasmic meditation.”

Defense attorneys likened the ritualized sex act to yoga, CrossFit or working with a personal trainer and portrayed it as both an educational institution and a buzzy, profitable, celebrity-endorsed business.

“It was a very beneficial practice for so many people, but it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea,” Ballard Spahr attorney Michael Robotti argued for Cherwitz, the company’s former head of sales.

He sought to debunk the government’s claim that OneTaste members who say they were abused, at least of whom are expected to testify, were gaslit and sleep-deprived victims of a forced labor conspiracy, casting them instead as consenting adults who could have left the group at any time.

“No one locked the door and said, ‘You’re not leaving until you finish the job,’” Robotti said. “The simple truth is that the exit door was always open.”

Jennifer Bonjean, Daedone’s attorney, reminded jurors that the case is about forced labor conspiracy and not the genital stroking practice they’ll hear described in court.

“Whether you think it’s weird or icky, it really doesn’t matter,” Bonjean said.

She explained that OneTaste members were involved at various levels: Some maintained their day jobs and took occasional classes, and the majority of women signed up with a husband or partner seeking to deepen their connection.

Witnesses who will testify about impropriety at OneTaste are simply looking back on past decisions that they regret, Bonjean said.

“Grown people made grown decisions that they don’t want to stand by. But that doesn’t mean that a crime occurred,” she said. “No one was forced to participate with this level of intensity.”

The first witness will take the stand on Wednesday.

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