OneTaste co-founder gets 9 years in prison in forced labor case

A federal judge sentenced the founder of a controversial women’s wellness company to nine years in prison on Monday for orchestrating a scheme that prosecutors said exploited vulnerable women under the guise of sexual empowerment.

Nicole Daedone, 58, who co-founded OneTaste Inc. in 2004, was ordered to forfeit $12 million and pay approximately $890,000 in restitution to seven victims. The company, which promoted “orgasmic meditation” as a path to wellness, gained prominence in the 2010s before allegations of exploitation surfaced.

“Coercion disguised as wellness or empowerment is still exploitation and it is a crime that causes harm to vulnerable victims,” said Joseph Nocella, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement following the sentencing.

During the hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, one victim addressed the court, explaining how she had initially believed in Daedone’s “so-called feminist mission” only to find herself “left with significant financial damages and emotional harm.”

“In reality, I fell into Nicole’s trap,” the woman told the court. “I was the perfect target.”

U.S. District Court Judge Diane Gujarati noted Daedone’s apparent lack of remorse as she delivered the sentence before a courtroom packed with the defendant’s supporters. “What she was doing wasn’t about enlightenment or operating in a different dimension,” Judge Gujarati said. “It was criminal.”

Prosecutors had sought a 20-year prison term, arguing that Daedone’s scheme had left “scores of victims financially, emotionally and psychologically scarred.” In court filings, they described how “Daedone and her co-conspirators exercised control through economic pressure, psychological manipulation, physical exhaustion and emotional degradation, leaving behind a trail of financial ruin and lasting trauma.”

By contrast, Daedone’s defense team had requested a much lighter sentence of approximately two years, characterizing a lengthy imprisonment as “bonkers.” They highlighted Daedone’s lack of prior criminal history and submitted more than 200 letters from supporters “attesting to her character, her generosity, and her positive influence.”

Among those who wrote in support were CNN correspondent Van Jones, who described Daedone as “a woman of uncommon wisdom, grace and moral courage,” and actor Richard Schiff from “The West Wing,” who argued she deserved leniency because she “spent her life trying to bring compassion, awareness, and honesty to a part of human experience that is often shamed or misunderstood.”

Following the sentencing, Daedone’s attorneys indicated they plan to appeal her conviction on charges of forced labor conspiracy. According to her legal team, Daedone has been teaching meditation to fellow inmates at the Brooklyn federal detention center since her conviction last June.

Prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz has stated he will seek a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for both Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste’s former sales director, who received a six-and-a-half-year sentence on Monday for her role in the scheme.

During the month-long trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Daedone and Cherwitz, 45, groomed followers—many of whom had histories of sexual trauma—and used various forms of abuse and indoctrination to force OneTaste members into sexual acts with potential investors and clients, regardless of the members’ comfort levels. They allegedly justified these actions as necessary steps toward achieving “freedom” and “enlightenment.”

The defense portrayed Daedone as a “ceiling-shattering feminist entrepreneur” who created a unique business focused on women’s sexuality and empowerment. OneTaste, which began in San Francisco, centered around “orgasmic meditation,” or “OM,” a practice involving men manually stimulating women in group settings.

The company expanded internationally throughout the 2010s, receiving positive media coverage as an innovative enterprise prioritizing women’s sexual pleasure. Daedone sold her stake in the company in 2017 for $12 million, just a year before its practices came under scrutiny.

OneTaste’s current ownership continues to maintain that the company’s work has been mischaracterized and that charges against its former executives were unwarranted.