{"id":180768,"date":"2026-03-31T12:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/180768\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:41:35","slug":"glamorous-leader-of-orgasm-cult-onetaste-learns-fate-for-grooming-employees-to-have-sex-with-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/180768\/","title":{"rendered":"Glamorous leader of ‘orgasm cult’ OneTaste learns fate for grooming employees to have sex with clients"},"content":{"rendered":"

The glamorous leader of infamous alleged\u00a0\u201corgasm cult\u201d OneTaste<\/a>\u00a0was hit with a nine-year prison sentence Monday for coercing employees into sex acts\u00a0\u2014 as a judge\u00a0slammed\u00a0her over the \u201cegregious, insidious\u201d scheme.<\/p>\n

Nicole Daedone, 58, stood in a beige jail jumpsuit to learn her fate after a\u00a0Brooklyn federal jury convicted her<\/a>\u00a0of grooming workers and members at her wellness company to have sex with clients and investors.<\/p>\n

OneTaste leader Nicole Daedone, 58, was hit with a nine-year sentence Monday. Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n

Daedone was convicted of grooming workers and members at her wellness company into sex with clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Daedone took actions that stripped victims of their dignity,\u201d Judge Diane Gujarati told the court, adding that \u201cshe does not appear to be remorseful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sentencing came after nine\u00a0former OneTaste employees testified about Daedone and the company\u2019s former of head of sales, Rachel Cherwitz, running the business like a cult and\u00a0manipulating them into performing a slew of sexual acts.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cherwitz was sentenced Monday afternoon to 6.5 years in prison.<\/p>\n

The outcome capped a fall from grace for the San Francisco-based company that once gained acclaim \u2014 and an endorsement from Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s Goop website \u2014 for promoting controversial group pleasuring sessions she dubbed \u201corgasmic meditation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the purportedly sex-positive guru \u201cwas not seeking enlightenment or operating on a different dimension,\u201d\u00a0Gujarati said Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Daedone took actions that stripped victims of their dignity,\u201d Judge Diane Gujarati told the court. Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a game or a show. It wasn\u2019t Harry Potter or the Matrix. It was criminal,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

Daedone was also ordered by\u00a0Gujarati\u00a0to forfeit $12 million\u00a0\u2014 the amount for which she sold her sex-focused company\u00a0\u2014 and pay nearly $900,000 to ex-employees who said they were coerced into sex acts and forced to work for little to no pay for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

One ex-employee, Michal, told the court Monday that her harrowing experiences at OneTaste left her in financial tatters and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n

Daedone has maintained a loyal following following despite her June conviction, which she is expected to appeal. Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n

\u201cI trusted Nicole \u2026 in reality, I fell into Nicole\u2019s trap,\u201d\u00a0 said Michal, who asked that her last name not be published. \u201cI was a perfect target because I was a vulnerable woman looking to improve my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Daedone to a whopping 20 years in prison, accusing her of recruiting victims who had suffered past traumas by claiming she could help fix their sexual suffering.<\/p>\n

The company enlisted one employee, a rape victim, to \u201creenact\u201d the incident before a crowd for a taboo course \u2014 performing oral sex on a partner while being told \u201cI love you,\u201d as her real rapist had, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

She was forced to wear drab beige jail clothes at the hearing after Judge\u00a0Gujarati rejected her bid to wear a civilian outfit. Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n

\u201cHers was a crime of exploitation masquerading as empowerment,\u201d the feds wrote to the court.<\/p>\n

Daedone has maintained a loyal following\u00a0despite her June conviction, which she is expected to appeal. More than 200 people submitted letters to the court before her sentencing,\u00a0including\u00a0Van Jones, a CNN correspondent and former adviser to President Barack Obama, who called her\u00a0\u201ca woman of uncommon wisdom, grace and moral\u00a0courage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daedone\u2019s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, stressed Monday that none of the accusers described being the victim of physical violence, and that her client was\u00a0charged and convicted only of forced labor conspiracy, and not sex trafficking or sexual assault.<\/p>\n

More than two dozen of her supporters attended the packed sentencing hearing in Brooklyn federal court. Gabriella Bass<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still many people today who see Nicole Daedone as a transformative force,\u201d Bonjean said in court.<\/p>\n

More than two dozen members of OneTaste\u00a0\u2014 which has been rebranded as the Institute of OM\u00a0\u2014\u00a0attended the packed sentencing hearing in Brooklyn federal court, including\u00a0Anjuli Ayer,\u00a0the company\u2019s current CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a terrifying day for freedom,\u201d Ayer told reporters outside the courthouse. \u201cOnce persuasion becomes a crime, anyone can be a defendant, and anyone can be a victim. We must correct the record or everyone will suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daedone declined to address the court, leaning over to the microphone and saying \u201cno, thank you\u201d when asked if she would like to speak before learning her sentence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The glamorous leader of infamous alleged\u00a0\u201corgasm cult\u201d OneTaste\u00a0was hit with a nine-year prison sentence Monday for coercing employees…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[32235,57,9,11,10,5474,4721,58],"class_list":["post-180768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cults","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-trials","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}