Founder of 'orgasmic meditation' company OneTaste charged with forced labour conspiracy
Representative image.
The founder of a sexual wellness company teaching 'orgasmic meditation' in the US has been charged with forced labour conspiracy, federal prosecutors in the New York City borough of Brooklyn said on Tuesday (June 6). California-based OneTaste is a sexual wellness company that claims to teach orgasmic meditation. Its founder Nicole Daedone and former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz have been accused of recruiting volunteers, contractors, and employees to incur debt to take courses that they claimed could heal sexual trauma and dysfunction.
According to a report by the news agency Reuters, Cherwitz was arrested and is expected to appear in San Francisco court later on Wednesday. Daedone, meanwhile, is still at large.
Company not charged with wrongdoing
While the two top executives of OneTaste were charged, federal prosecutors did not charge the company as such with any wrongdoing. In a statement, OneTaste's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anjuli Ayer said the company cooperated with prosecutors and the charges were unjustified because of "OneTaste's culture of individual empowerment, choice and consent."
"We are appalled by this long-term, misogynistic, media-driven campaign to tear down a feminine empowerment project and the women who devoted their lives to it," Ayer said.
OneTaste was founded in California in 2004 and it was the subject of a Netflix documentary"Orgasm Inc" last year that followed its rise and included interviews with former members.
On Tuesday, the prosecutors said that Daedone and Cherwitz subjected OneTaste members to surveillance in communal homes instructed them to engage in sex acts for "freedom and enlightenment",and failed to pay promised wages.
And as per an indictment from April 3 which was only made public on Tuesday, Daedone and Cherwitz deliberately recruited people who suffered trauma and sought to limit their contact with people outside the OneTaste community, including by breaking up romantic relationships.
(With inputs from agencies)
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