‘Orgasm cult’ founder who dubbed self ‘female messiah’ charged with sex crimes

The founder of an "orgasmic meditation" company has been accused of running the business like a sex cult and coercing members into being intimate with clients and investors.

Self-styled "female messiah" Nicole Daedone, the founder of wellness company OneTaste, is still at large after being charged with forced labour conspiracy for the scheme running from 2004 to 2018, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York.

The company's former head of sales, Rachel Cherwitz, received the same charge.

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The two women have been accused of recruiting members who had already suffered trauma, coaxing them in with claims they could teach them to heal past sexual trauma.

But once they were signed up many recruits reportedly racked up debt, with some of the courses at the company costing up to $60,000 (£48,169).

It has also been claimed members were subjected to "economic, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse" as well as “surveillance, indoctrination and intimidation” in order to get them to work for free.

Members were allegedly forced to live in communal homes while Daedone, 56, and Cherwitz, 43, gathered private and intimate information about their lives before telling them to participate in "uncomfortable or repulsive" sex acts in a bid for "freedom and enlightenment".

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Prosecutors said those who didn't follow the instructions were subjected to public shame, humiliation and workplace retaliation.

OneTaste was founded in San Francisco, California, in 2004 and quickly spread across the US to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver and New York.

But the company became the subject of controversy in 2018 after ex-members and employees compared the company to a prostitution ring that put people into debt.

In 2020, an investigation by the FBI was launched into the business and it was forced to cease all classes.

Meanwhile Netflix documentary Orgasm Inc., released in 2022, also documented the company's rise to fame and subsequent fall.

While Daedone, who lives in San Diego, has yet to be arrested, Cherwtiz, of Philo, California, was arrested on Tuesday morning (June 6).

If convicted, both women could face a up to 20 years behind bars.

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