Frank Parlato
In the thickets of Brooklyn, where real crimes go undetected, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, indicted two San Francisco women – the founder of OneTaste, Nicole Daedone, and her former sales manager, Rachel Cherwitz, for forced labor conspiracy.
Not forced labor. But forced labor conspiracy.
OneTaste, a San Francisco company, promotes itself as a wellness education company that sells classes for adults, typically held on weekends in event spaces. The company never taught classes in Brooklyn.
OneTaste opened in 2004, and 35,000 people have participated in its events. Some 16,000 have taken classes and workshops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boulder, Las Vegas, London, and other locations. Over 1,400 people have gone through OneTaste’s coaching program, which is taught three days per month in LA, New York, or London.
Failed Conspiracy: Women Charged for 12 Years of Unsuccessful Forced Labor
In the indictment, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of NY (Brooklyn) alleges a 12-year scheme by Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz to conspire to commit forced labor – from 2006 to 2018.
The US Attorney admits this is not an ongoing conspiracy. The women – Daedone and Cherwitz – allegedly stopped conspiring in 2018, six years ago.
The US Attorney alleges, however, that for 12 years, the two conspired to force some or all of the 35,000 men and women who participated in a class to work for them under fear of serious harm or physical restraint.
He alleges Daedone and Cherwitz also conspired to force labor from the 16,000 who paid for a class and tried again with the 1400 who took the coaching course—an advanced course in OneTaste philosophy—and failed in every instance.
Two women tried for 12 years and failed.
Rachel Cherwitz and Nicole Daedone
No Victims, No Problem: Brooklyn US Attorney Charges Women with Forced Labor Conspiracy
The US Attorney in Brooklyn tried, too. His office tried for five years to find an actual victim of forced labor and failed.
So, he charged them with conspiracy to commit forced labor.
Like he said in his court filings:
“The instant case charges a conspiracy and not a substantive offense. The defendants could be proven guilty if they never forced any victim to do anything—so long as the evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that they agreed to do so.”
The US Attorney in Brooklyn is the first and only US Attorney in America to charge anyone with just forced labor conspiracy and not forced labor or some other serious “substantive” crime.
Real Criminals Forced Labor, OneTaste Leaders Only Allegedly Conspired
Like Darnell Fulton of Louisiana, who not only conspired but also committed forced labor and sexual abuse of his stepchildren.
Or Lawrence Ray in New York, convicted of extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, forced labor, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Or Keith Raniere, in Brooklyn, convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering, as well as forced labor conspiracy.
These men weren’t just conspiring. They got the job done.
Take Dan Zhong, the former head of US operations of Chinese Liaoning Rilin Construction Co. Ltd. and US-based subsidiaries, including U.S. Rilin, and a Chinese diplomat. A Brooklyn jury convicted him in 2019 on charges of conspiracy to provide forced labor, forced labor, concealing passports and immigration documents in connection with forced labor, conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, and conspiracy to commit visa fraud.
“Zhong forced his workers to work 14-hour days and live in cramped, unsafe conditions, with locks on the doors so they could not escape,” stated HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Fitzhugh.
(Why didn’t Daedone and Cherwitz think of locking the doors?)
Zhong talked about more than just making them work. He took their passports and told them, “Work, or you get deported,” and they worked.
Or the McReynolds clan:
Huong Thi McReynolds, Joseph Minh McReynolds, Vincent Minh McReynolds, and James Hartful McReynolds conspired and took action. They brought women to the United States by offering them marriage, forcing them to work in their homes and business – the ‘I do! I do!’ Wedding Boutique and Sweet Nothings Lingerie store, and never marrying them.
Or take Edk Kenit from Micronesia and his gal Choimina Lukas, who not only conspired but also used document servitude to force a 19-year-old girl to clean their house for 11 months. It did not take them 12 years to get it done. They conspired, brought her here, and had her working in a matter of weeks.
And don’t forget Aroldo Rigoberto Castillo-Serrano, Pablo Duran Jr., Ana Angelica, Bruno Lopez-Zalas, Erica Maisonet, and Conrado Salgado Soto. The prosecutors charged them not just with forced labor conspiracy, but forced labor, and witness tampering.
These men and one woman did not just conspire. They did the needful. They recruited migrant workers, adults, and children, telling them they would have a better life in the US than in Guatemala.
After illegally bringing them across the border, they forced the workers to perform manual labor for 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, with little to no pay. When they weren’t working, the laborers were held in trailers owned by Castillo-Serrano and his associates at Oakridge Estates in New Bloomington.
“The work included cleaning chicken coops, loading and unloading crates of chickens, de-beaking chickens and vaccinating chickens,” said Michael Tobin, spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office.
The work was done at farms owned by Trillium Farms, which had contracted their labor to Haba Corporate Services. Haba was affiliated with Rabbit Cleaning Services and Papagos, Inc. All three companies were owned by associates of Castillo-Serrano.
It did not take them 12 years to force people to de-beak chickens.
The same applies to Nagham Hassan Burgotti, Adam Mohammad Barguthi, Mohammad Arafeh Abuawad, Lowana Mohammad Huthaifa, and Ahmad Albarghuthi. These Jordanians conspired to obtain forced labor of victims and also forced those victims to labor.
It is the same with Mohamed Toure and his wife, Denise Cros-Toure, who conspired and then forced the labor of a woman for 16 years. Imagine if they only conspired for 12 years. The slave would have only worked for four years.
Or again, Alec and Mike Sou conspired, yes, and at Aloun Farms in Hawaii they obtained forced labor from 44 Thai nationals.
The list goes on.
Maximino Mondragon, Walter Corea, Victor Omar Lopez, Oscar Mondragon, and Olga Mondragon conspired to force the labor of young Central American women they smuggled into the United States, and they also forced them to labor in bars and cantinas in Houston, Texas.
And don’t forget the woman, Dr. Elnora Calimlim, and her husband, Dr. Jefferson Calimlim. The couple were charged with both forced labor conspiracy and forced labor when they forced a woman to work for them as a domestic for 19 years in Wisconsin.
So it is always the same. Women might be involved in conspiring, but it’s always the men who get the crime done.
But up in Brooklyn, the US Attorney charged two women with conspiracy to commit forced labor, but no forced labor charge. They never pulled it off in 12 years – with one year the hard way – since they only knew each other for 11 years of their hapless conspiracy.
And yes, sometimes prosecutors make mistakes.
Prosecutorial Missteps: OneTaste Case Echoes False Forced Labor Claims
Consider the US Attorney who charged Dr. Riyaz Mazcuria, a Texas psychiatrist, along with Sanja Khimani, Rashmikant Patel, and Mehmood Dhanani with forced labor conspiracy, forced labor, and organizing a human trafficking organization.
The federal indictment said they hired female dancers in India, whom they told would perform cultural programs in the United States. Prosecutors alleged that when they got to the US, the men forced the women to dance in nightclubs in front of men for 14 hours per night, seven nights a week. Their forced labor included prostitution. The men would force the women to perform by confiscating their passports and threatening them with violence.
However, as they will probably have to do sooner or later in the Daedone-Cherwitz case, the prosecutors had to drop the case.
The prosecutors admitted in a press statement:
“We have recently learned additional facts that call into question certain information that had been relied upon at the time of the indictment and that undermine the credibility of witnesses the Government had expected to call at trial. “
Yeah, in other words, “the witnesses lied.”
The Government went on:
“Based on a review of the evidence in the case and information acquired subsequent to the filing of the Indictment, the Government has concluded that further prosecution of SABJA KHIMANI, RIYAZ MAZCURI, a/k/a “The Doctor,” RASHMIKANT PATEL, and MEHMOOD HASSANALI DHANANI, a/k/a “Sam,” a/k/a “Mehmoob,” the defendants, would not be in the interests of justice.”
Indict them. Give them nicknames. Ruin their lives, then investigate and find out it is all bullshit.
But never apologize.
How about saying, “We deeply regret falsely arresting these men, seizing their assets, ruining their careers, and placing them in terror of life in prison for our failure to investigate the bullshit claims of some disgruntled liars.”
The prosecutors dropped the case not because the defendants were innocent but because the defendants could prove their innocence.
We have a justice department incentivized by conviction stats and the recklessness that comes with no fear of making a mistake since being a prosecutor means never having to say you’re sorry.
Prosecutors can make a weasel statement like: “We have recently learned additional facts that call into question certain information that had been relied upon at the time of the indictment…” and the media does not take them to task.
And lives are ruined with sloppiness.
Like in the case of US v Daedone and Cherwitz.
Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
This is actually a disturbing cult with many similarities to Nxivm. Soaring fees, members pressured into giving free labor, pressured into unwanted sex. All culminating into sadism and physical abuse. Watch Orgasm Inc: The Story of One Taste. On Netflix
Very enlightening article! Thank you
In Micronesia, they look at things differently.…
Love your captions, Frank!
As is often joked, the state can indict a ham sandwich if it wants to.
There’s something flawed in the way federal grand juries are often induced to hand up criminal indictments on the flimsiest of purported evidence. And because the grand jury process is shrouded in secrecy, many US Attorneys can get away with violating the rules of professional conduct.
In some jurisdictions, judges have the authority to discipline attorneys on the spot. In all jurisdictions, judges have the authority to refer suspected attorney malfeasance to the appropriate regulatory body for due process. It rarely happens.
Dear Frank,
Thank you, I’ve been following your series of reports on One Taste. I am impressed with you being a true journalist. In this day and age I am finding that too often “news” articles are merely pieces written to promote certain narratives rather than any type of true journalism that reports relevant facts. I appreciate that, despite your personal opinion of One Taste, you maintain an open mind to new facts from your thorough research and continue to pursue the truth despite your original understandings. We need journalists like you to shed light on the state of the judicial system.
My thoughts are that this type of baseless case and the ensuing media hype surrounding them distract people (whether intentionally or not) from deeply disturbing cases which the main stream media avoids. As you describe in the article, there are so many other people who have strong evidence against them for serious human trafficking/sex crimes. I am aware of two other cases in NYS involving law enforcement officials that have been charged with pedophilia/child pornography and they have received no media attention at all. Thank you again for your though investigative reporting and a genuine commitment to the pursuit of the truth.
There is only one Frank Parlato.
Thank you Frank, for continuing to kick the tires on this preposterous case and imagined charges. In this article you mention real crimes and people who struggled under forced labor and were able to find justice. That’s a lot different from cases driven by ideology, like the case against Nicole and Rachel, which weakens the foundations of our justice system. Please continue the fine reporting from the front lines of truth.
Thank you for your articles and showing that’s happening to the public.
Anyone looking for a place in Albany?
https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/real-estate-infamous-cults/
When is the world going to realize what you have so easily figured out, Frank? I wish people cared more about facts than sensationalism. And I wish those people who cared about the facts included our federal prosecution team. If this is where we’re at with this case, image more of the mistakes that were made in the past.
I can’t imagine Nicole Daeadone or Rachel Cherwitz ever forcing anyone to do anything. They are strong personalities, for sure. Leaders are. But that goes against OneTaste’s principle of consent. The whole idea of Orgasmic Meditation and its philosophy is both practitioners fully opt in to the practice. They act as adults, including stepping out of any situation they don’t feel comfortable in. We even practiced saying no to having a cup of tea or an OM–it was part of the script.
I remember once asking Rachel if there was a job available at OneTaste and she told me that there were no positions available. I worked for them because I persisted. I wanted to work for them. I wanted to support their mission in the world.
This case is certainly one for the history books. Women teaching women how powerful they are and that their sex is important… Oh yes, let’s shut that down by any means necessary. Oh and let’s employ the federal government to help us shut it down.
The thing that saddens me the most is there’s a disregard for who the women actually are. And a purposeful closing of the eyes to the fact that they have already done a lot more good in the world than most people do in a lifetime. Let’s not ask them about what’s important to them and how they spend their days. Let’s just dirty them and charge them with a nonsensical federal indictment knowing that most people won’t care enough to actually read the fine points of the case that you continue to illuminate, Frank. All I can say is thank you. Keep it up!
Besides being strong, successful women, why do you think they’re being targeted? What’s the real agenda?
Strong successful women.
WOW, what an achievement
Has there been another case where they convicted anyone for a single crime of forced labor conspiracy? Or is the government weaponizing the courts even more to set precedent?
I’d like to bang Nicole. Anyone have her #?
Almost certain she could use a strap on, p[ilgram
Lol. Nah.
8675309
Hey that’s my phone number, stop that
Also I got really excited when I read the part about the witness lying. Which is what I believe is going on in this case. A couple people woke up to their own darkness, freaked out, blamed the thing that woke them up, lied about it to make it sound extra bad, then still refuse to take responsibility for their decisions and cause a trial that ultimately exposes their own lie.
Google it * * 814 867 5309 (Penn State Campus) Frank Fina answered, and said we’re going after Sandusky. Victim 1 said he wanted Raykovitz and the Second Mile!
Thanks.
I called her and we hooked up on Saturday. Once I told her it is “Pilgrim from Frank Report”, she jumped at the chance for a hook up. Now she will not stop calling. She wants daily, nightly, and ever so rightly.
867-5309 Jenny, Jenny….
Anonymous = NutJob
Great song from my childhood.
Jenny died of AIDS. The # was transfered to Nicole.
Me too!
She seems to be DTF.
She looks like she could play the rusty trombone better than gay
Louis Armstrong.
The truth is, Nicole and Rachel are business powerhouses, and OneTaste has created a lot in its time: courses, programs, communities, enthusiasm, and trained OMers. So they are not hapless bumblers.
If they wanted to achieve forced labor, they surely could have. But they did not, because that simply wasn’t their objective.
This is just a witch hunt on openly sexual women, which in this country so far is not a crime. We aren’t under Sharia law yet. So let’s drop this time and money-wasting case and move on!
Business powerhouses? Gotta love it.
Are they women standing strong in their sovereignty?
Here’s a secret, there’s nothing more repulsive to men than women who are openly sexual.
Outrageous