Founder of Sexual Wellness Company indicted for forced labor

The founder and a top executive of a San Francisco commune and sexual welfare company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” before questions of abuse began circulating were indicted by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Tuesday on charges of forced labor conspiracy.

Nicole Daedone, who founded OneTaste in 2004 and served as chief executive officer until 2017, and Rachel Cherwitz, the company’s former head of sales from 2009-2018, were involved in what prosecutors say was a yearlong plan “to increase labor and services.” of volunteers, contractors and employees by subjecting them to “economic, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse, surveillance, indoctrination and harassment”.

Ms. Cherwitz, who lives in Philo, California, was arrested Tuesday and is expected to appear in federal court in California later today. Ms. Daedone, who lives in San Diego, was still out and about on Tuesday afternoon. If convicted, the two women face up to 20 years in prison. It was unclear who represented the women.

The company, which grew in popularity for its focus on female sexuality and for offering courses, coaching and events around the subject, gained notoriety for its practice of orgasmic meditation. The ritual was described in a 2009 New York Times article that involved about a dozen women, naked from the waist down, lying with their eyes closed in a velvet-draped room while clothed men crawled over them and ritually caressed them.

Ms Daedone said at the time that she saw herself as the leader of ‘the slow sex movement’, which focuses on women’s pleasure.

Over the years, the company had operations across the country in New York City, Denver, Las Vegas, Austin, Los Angeles and even London, prosecutors said. Ms. Cherwitz told The Times she commuted to give private lessons at the New York City commune outpost, where many of her clients were married Orthodox Jewish couples from Brooklyn.

But as the group and Ms. Daedone’s teachings became more widely known, former members began to speak about a dark side to the organization. A 2022 documentary on Netflix explored the rise of the company and the allegations it faced.

According to prosecutors, between 2006 and 2018, the two women targeted vulnerable people by advertising that OneTaste’s teachings could heal sexual trauma and dysfunction. Members who could not afford the courses, which could cost thousands of dollars, would be pushed into debt, prosecutors said.

The manipulation and control of the two leaders continued, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The women subjected members to “continuous surveillance in communal homes and collected highly sensitive and personal information about them which the defendants then used to make OneTaste members emotionally, socially and psychologically dependent on OneTaste,” prosecutors said.

The group also demanded “absolute devotion” to Ms Daedone, prosecutors said. The two women, along with others, urged members to engage in sexual acts, even those they found uncomfortable or repulsive, as a “requirement to gain ‘freedom’ and ‘enlightenment’ and demonstrate their commitment,” according to the public prosecutors.

And after promising to pay members for the work they did for the company, the leaders would later refuse to pay what they owed for the services or they would change their employment status or location without notice as a way of exercising control. exercise, prosecutors said.

If members did not follow the directions of the two women, they would engage in “public shaming, humiliation, and workplace retaliation.” They would also harass, coerce and intimidate anyone they believed to be their enemies or critics, prosecutors said.