Feds 'criminalize sex' in New York case against alleged 'orgasm cult' OneTaste: lawyers

The feds are “criminalizing sex” and seeking to put people “in jail for having fun” by going after the two glamorous leaders of the troubled “sexual wellness” empire OneTaste, their lawyers claimed Wednesday.

“I would say the government is trying to criminalize sex. That's what this case is about, let's not kid ourselves,” Duncan Levin, who represents the company's sales director, Rachel Cherwitz, said after a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn.

Cherwitz and the company’s founder, Nicole Daedone, are scheduled to go to trial in January 2025. They are accused of running OneTaste like a cult by enticing members to have sex with investors and customers, while also pushing members into debt. Both women have been charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The couple was in court Wednesday for a hearing where their attorneys argued the case should be dismissed over what they called “misconduct” by federal prosecutors, including an FBI agent who allegedly ordered a key witness to delete his email account.

But prosecutors, calling the defense's allegations “baseless” and “speculative,” responded in court papers that the officer in question was simply trying to protect the witness from harassment she had suffered at the hands of other OneTaste members, rather than destroying evidence.

Daedone and Cherwitz were accompanied in court Wednesday by about a dozen followers of their California-based company, also known as the Institute of OM or Eros, which currently offers its orgasm meditation classes out of a Harlem office, according to a spokesman.

The “orgasmic meditation” treatment, in which a group of women have their genitals methodically caressed for 15 minutes, “is a transformative practice that heals conditions ranging from sexual dysfunction and trauma to depression and anxiety,” its website boasts.

Lawyers for Daedone and Cherwitz again decried the case to reporters after an hour of hearings, saying federal authorities had charged the women using a unique interpretation of the “conspiracy to commit forced labor” law.

“It's just (the Eastern District of New York) trying to be creative, and the courts have said it's not your job to be creative and see if you can put somebody in jail for jokes and that's really what they're doing here,” said Jennifer Bonjean, who represents Daedone.

Bonjean, who is best known for defending Bill Cosby and R. Kelly in sexual misconduct cases, also claimed Wednesday that the feds are “targeting women, frankly, which is an interesting twist on the #MeToo movement,” despite the fact that prosecutors built their case on the word of at least one woman who told the FBI she was coerced into sexual acts.

The company has fallen out of favor since 2018, when more than 35,000 people attended their in-person events, they were endorsed by Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop website, and Daedone gave a viral speech at a Tedx conference encouraging skeptical attendees to try orgasmic meditation.

The company was also the subject of a 2022 Netflix documentary titled “Orgasm Inc” that detailed some of the allegations that were part of the criminal case.

Judge Diane Gujarati took no position on the claims of OneTaste's legal team and set a July 17 deadline for the attorneys to formalize their arguments in a motion to dismiss the case.