Repost: People, “9 Years For ‘Orgasmic Meditation’ Sex Cult Scheme”
Why I’m Reposting
"Did Silicon Valley Reinvent the Bus Again?" is the name of a Facebook group I'm in that used to be filled with content I actually cared about. Now it’s just anti-Western and anti-work people farming for likes. The group name stays funny.
Companies break laws and regulations, then call it innovation. Since I like technology and low barriers to entry, I’m not always against it, especially when it breaks up monopolies. The most famous case is Uber. Uber’s entire expansion model was basically: launch first, lawyer up later, and hope the taxi mafia doesn’t kill you. They ignored taxi rules, permits, insurance requirements, labor standards, congestion rules… and won.
And while the lawsuits never stop, plenty of companies had a similar playbook. Turo stole car rental company business, just without the same taxes, airport fees, and liability rules. Airbnb turned any spare room into a bad boutique hotel, sometimes forcing guests to do manual work, while sidestepping the registration, inspections, and compliance laws. And sure, couchsurfing existed before, and was even less regulated, but Airbnb mainstreamed it. The worst offenders are gambling sites like Polymarket, which call themselves “prediction markets,” as if that’s different from predicting you’ll hit 21. It dodges taxes, licensing, age controls, consumer protections, and basic moral guardrails.
Today, I’ll be reposting about OneTaste, the not-so-short-lived tech-bro answer to Craigslist for people who apparently could not just use Tinder like the rest of us. They marketed themselves as upscale. The media describes them as a sex cult. I’m fascinated in how fine the line is between those two.
According to federal prosecutors, OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone and former sales head Rachel Cherwitz ran a years-long forced labor conspiracy through the company’s “orgasmic meditation” ecosystem, pressuring vulnerable women into debt, unpaid labor, communal control, and in some cases sexual acts with investors or clients, all while framing it as empowerment, healing, and spiritual growth. A jury convicted them in June 2025 after a five-week trial. This week, Daedone was sentenced to nine years in prison, while Cherwitz received 78 months.
That is what makes the case interesting beyond the obvious TEDx-branded sleaze. The legal issue was not just “sex stuff happened” or “this was weird and gross.” America has plenty of both. The issue is that this allegedly combined coercion, labor exploitation, and psychological control, wrapped in the language of feminist liberation. The outcome was serious: prison time, a $12 million forfeiture order against Daedone, and restitution for seven victims.
The article I’m reposting is from People, one of the largest celebrity and human-interest outlets in the U.S.. It also leans heavily into true crime, so stories like this end up squarely in its lane. Read it on the site here: https://people.com/onetaste-founder-nicole-daedone-gets-9-years-for-orgasmic-meditation-sex-cult-scheme-11938284
For clarity, I still think sex work and drugs should be legalized and taxed (Read “Secret Lives of Sex Worker Friends” for personal anecdotes). Hiding taboos does not make them safer or rarer, it just makes them more dangerous. Criminalization lands hardest on the people doing the labor, usually women, who are easier to fine, arrest, and socially ruin. The clients, the enablers, the rich creeps orbiting the whole system, keep their dignity and their wives. So even if OneTaste crossed well into abuse, I have to assume there were plenty of men involved who were sleazier than these two ladies, and walked away cleaner. I’ll take a bet related lawsuits will come.
Nicole Daedone and Rachel (Cherwitz.Credit : Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty)
OneTaste Founder Nicole Daedone Gets 9 Years For ‘Orgasmic Meditation’ Sex Cult Scheme
The OneTaste founder was sentenced to 9 years after prosecutors said she coerced vulnerable women into unpaid labor and sexual acts
Elizabeth Rosner; Mar 31, 2026
Nicole Daedone, the founder of controversial sexual wellness company OneTaste, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for running a forced labor scheme that prosecutors say exploited vulnerable women.
Rachel Cherwitz, the company’s former head of sales, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years behind bars.
Both women were convicted in June 2025 after a five-week federal trial in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors said Daedone and Cherwitz spent more than a decade manipulating women who joined OneTaste in search of healing, pressuring them into unpaid work and, in some cases, sexual acts.
The company, founded in San Francisco in 2004, promoted “orgasmic meditation,” a practice involving manual stimulation, and sold expensive courses and retreats across cities including New York, Los Angeles and London.
But behind the scenes, authorities said, members were pushed into debt to pay for classes, closely monitored in communal living situations and stripped of independence.
Once under their control, victims were allegedly forced to work long hours — often seven days a week — with little or no pay.
Some women were also pressured into performing sex acts with investors, clients and employees to benefit the business, according to trial testimony.
In one example, witnesses said they were made to live with a key investor, act as his “handlers,” and perform sex acts at his direction while also doing domestic labor.
“This case exposed a decade-long scheme,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said, adding that the defendants used “psychological, emotional and financial coercion” to control victims.
The judge also ordered Daedone to forfeit $12 million and awarded nearly $888,000 in restitution to victims.
Thoughts? Comment below.
