Frank Parlato
Over the last few months, I have been reporting on the Eastern District of NY US Attorney’s case against Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz.
Daedone co-founded OneTaste, a sexual wellness education company that teaches a meditation practice called Orgasmic Meditation, also known as OM. Cherwitz was head sales manager.
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, taught three days per month in LA, New York, or London.
A Unique Legal Charge
After a five-year FBI investigation, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of NY brought the charge of forced labor conspiracy against the two women in April 2023. It appears to be the only case of forced labor conspiracy as a standalone charge in the history of the forced labor law.
In general practice, conspiracy, a non-substantive charge, accompanies the substantive charge. The government did not charge the two women with forced labor. Instead, the government accused Daedone and Cherwitz of a conspiracy to commit forced labor over 12 years, but the women failed.
The government alleges they agreed to commit forced labor, but prosecutors did not have actual evidence of forced labor. Conspiracy was the only crime the prosecutors charged.
As the US Attorney wrote in a recent court filing, explaining why there are no victims to identify for the defense:
“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.”
Possible Motive for Prosecution
It appears from court filings that the government considers the OM meditation practice dangerous, and for a time, the FBI investigation chilled the public demonstration of OM into virtual cessation.
Although OM may be dangerous, it is not illegal.
In her bail memorandum prepared by the government, US Attorney Breon Peace wrote, while arguing for a million-dollar bail for Daedone:
“Daedone poses a continuing danger to the community. Based on information obtained during the investigation, as recently as this year, Daedone has returned to performing public OM demonstrations…”
Daedone’s return to teaching OM in adults-only classes may have prompted the indictment in April 2023.
Public Perception and Support
While the government considers OM dangerous, some think it is a “deeply beneficial practice.”
A Facebook group of about 2700 members called OM Wiki describes OM practice as follows:
Orgasmic Meditation™ (OM) is a partnered consciousness practice focused on clitoral stroking, explained by Nicole Daedone in her book ‘Slow Sex’ and taught by the business OneTaste.
The basic rules and structure of the practice can be found here: http://onetaste.us/container.
Perhaps because the government considers OM dangerous, the group is private, and admission depends on the application of a would-be member being over the age of 18, and the administrators’ acceptance.
In response to Eastern District Prosecutors Go Medieval on OneTaste’s ‘Dangerous’ Practice of OM, a member of OM Wiki, had this to say:
The article spends 95% of its time on things from the 19th century so seems a bit all over the place.
But it touches on something I was PMing with someone here about just the other day….
Right now… I am a LOT more afraid to OM because I worry the Feds will knock down the door and arrest me for assault on the women I am stroking….. than I am about someone trying to sell me a class at the end of the OM circle. I can handle the latter but the former would be devastating.
Behind the crux of their case, I have a vague sense that they think women being stroked is a crime and women are victims, even if they don’t know it. Which means the strokers are perpetrators. They don’t say this directly but I just feel it sitting there, behind the charges.
Didn’t an OM Circle in LA get busted just like this once?
Imagine being arrested for OMing. They don’t even need to charge you, the arrest record will be public information. Anything can be found on the net. Frank’s articles prove this.
First Amendment Concerns
The government has chilled the practice of OM. There will be some who will argue this is a First Amendment prosecution. OM is not illegal. Dangerous, perhaps, but not illegal. Though to the best of my knowledge, no one has died from the practice, nor have any injuries been reported. No one has ever been arrested for practicing OM and no one has ever been accused of a sex crime because they practiced OM. In fact, no one ever practiced OM, under the auspices of OneTaste, at least, that did not explicitly consent.
For those who want to study the legal documents, the commenter explains how:
OT has published a boat load of legal docs on their Medium page. … It has all their legal responses and also the prosecutions responses to the responses and even the NY original indictment. … Some stuff Frank is posting about apparently has been publicly available for 2 years…
My guess is Frank subscribes to portals that put this material on the net. He likely just goes to the source and gets his material from there…. Here is the link to the massive document….
https://onetaste.us/…/June-2024-Joint-Statement-for-OT…
…The actual diary (of Ayries Blanck) he wrote about can be found as Exhibit H, about 1/3 of the way though. All the texts Frank cut and pasted (and more) can be found immediately afterwards in I, J and K….
There is some stuff Frank has not written about that are probably pretty important to both cases, halfway through, as exhibits D3 and D4. Ouch.
It appears Frank is simply waiting until documents become available, reads them, then writes his articles. All he has to do is wait until they are released and “voila.”
I always suspected it was something like this, as “feeding” him the materials seems a bit unlikely. This is, after all, the guy who helped bring down NXIVM, so I would think OT’s lawyers would never allow them to get too close to him….
If you have some time to read through this stuff, it has some interesting material. All I know after looking at all this is…. I don’t ever want to be in a lawsuit.
Lawsuits Are Burdensome, Painful and Expensive
I agree with the commenter. I don’t want to be in a lawsuit, if I can avoid it. I am pretty certain Ayries Blanck wishes she wasn’t in a lawsuit.
I suppose Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, who did not volunteer for this trouble, feel that way too. It would not surprise me if FBI Special Agent Elliot McGinnis wishes he had not believed a word of the liar Blanck and told his superiors years ago, “there is nothing criminal in the targets’ conduct.”
Added to the list of those who now or soon may regret they took on “The Case of the Dangerous Meditation” is likely to be the US Attorney and his numerous assistants.
After 12 years of trying and 35,000 people coming through their doors, Daedone and Cherwitz could not force anyone to labor? The jury may resent having their time wasted and blame it on the prosecutors.
There is a reason no other US Attorney ever brought a standalone forced labor conspiracy charge without the underlying forced labor crime. Get a dictionary. Look up the definition of “evidence.”
It’s not just a trial and error process, and the punchline is not an acquittal.
This is a case of reckless prosecutors who apparently believe in the malleability of truth, who don’t care that with the swipe of their pen, they make decisions about someone’s freedom. This case was never a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the person who has committed it. This was a case of picking the woman, and her dangerous meditation, then searching the law books, to pin some crime on her.
I heard it said of prosecutors by a defense attorney:
We, as criminal defense lawyers, are forced to deal with some of the lowest people on earth, people who have no sense of right and wrong, people who will lie in court to get what they want, people who do not care who gets hurt in the process. It is our job – our sworn duty – as criminal defense lawyers, to protect our clients from those people.”
Yes, there is nothing scarier than a reckless prosecutor. But this time they may get a comeuppance.
Stay tuned for our next post, where we explain why.
Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/onetaste-founder-and-former-head-sales-indicted-forced-labor-conspiracy
Is the charge considered a crime against society? The potential danger similar to prostitution or drug use?
The prosecutors should find a gracious way to exit the court.
THE ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THAT VICTIMLESS CRIME LAWS ACTUALLY CREATE VICTIMS BY FORCING CERTAIN ACTIVITIES TO BE CONDUCTED IN AN ATMOSPHERE CONDUCIVE TO SECONDARY CRIME. FURTHER OBJECTIONS TO VICTIMLESS CRIMES RELATE TO THEIR HIGH COST, I.E., TO THE FINANCIAL AND JUDICIAL BURDENS THEY IMPOSE, THE LOGISTICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS OF ENFORCEMENT, AND THE NATURE OF THE LAWS THEMSELVES. QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE LIMITS OF PUBLIC POLICY, THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY, ASPECTS OF CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, AND THE RIGHT TO TREATMENT GO BEYOND THE WISDOM OF VICTIMLESS CRIME STATUTES TO THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE LAWS. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT VICTIMLESS CRIMES ARE, AT BEST, EXAMPLES OF THE ‘OVERREACH’ OF CRIMINAL LAW AND ARE, IN MANY RESPECTS, CONSTITUTIONALLY SUSPECT.
Government overreach and fabrication of charges with victimless crimes.
All these people need to confess their sins and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Turn away from Satanic prostitution.
Humbly and truthfully pray this from your heart: “Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God and Savior of the world. Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross to rescue me from sin and death and to restore me to God. I choose now to turn from my sins, my self-centeredness, and every part of my life that does not please you. I choose you. Forgive me of my sins. I give myself to you now.”
Wow, if the fed forces people to testify they are victims, then are they also forcing those “victims” to collect evidence for them? Is there a smoking gun showing they are complicit in stealing and fabricating evidence via their “victim” pool?
Nicole Daedone was relatively attractive when she was younger and Rachel Cherwitz has always been a fatty. Neither is ageing well. What hasn’t been reported on so far is how much they hate Ayries for being young and fit. When you run a sex cult you target men. The crones running it get catty and jealous when the horny men focus on the hotter, tighter, younger meat.
rachel cherwitz has never been overweight. what are you saying.
OK, Rachel. But lay off the potato chips anyway.
it’s simple, Rachel Cherwitz a FAT stupid COW, Chris Kosley is young, THIN, and smart
I thought this cult was supposed to erase trauma and make women all badass. But this article proves it creates pearl-clutching chicks who sound like they are in middle-school. If you want to masturbate and meditate at the same time, do it. These women are not charged with jilling off. They are charged with forced labor conspiracy. Grow up, culties!
there’s still 2700 people on facebook?
Wow fear being instilled around a practice taking place in private between consenting adults…. What is this country coming to
I live in San Francisco and there are so many autistic, wealthy tech incels here who are bummed that OneTaste got shut down. Although they have the cash to afford A-league prostitutes they are too moralistic to go that route. OneTaste had that New Age spiritual cover for the pay-for-sex racket.
Now all they have is a jar of vaseline and their laptop.
Bring back OneTaste! Do it for the techcels!!!!!!!!
AUSA Gillian Kassner is an evil bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why should people be allowed to teach dangerous things? Because government should not decide what is dangerous unless it is proven that it harms others against their will.
Like Kentucky Fried Chicken. I think it is dangerous because it makes people fat and susceptible to myriad illnesses.
Please consider writing about the conspiracy of Colonel Harland Sanders. His fried chicken is dangerous.
Ayries needs to lay off the fast food. She is a fat pig.
One Taste was great, until that FAT, miserable cunt Ayries Blanck came along and fucked everything up. What a FAT, slob.
I’m starting to think you believe Ayries is fat. Am I close?
What is the weight cutoff between guilty and innocent that the judge will be applying? Have you considered that the prosecution will put her on a crash diet before the trial and she’ll be rail thin on the witness stand and tip the scales of justice in their favor?
You are correct. Ayries is a fat slob.
Let me break it down: Nicole is thin, attractive and successful.
Ayries is fat, gross and a failure. She is jealous of Nicole so she wants to put her in jail.
Is Ayries the one on netflix that is sitting on her bed the whole time like she hasn’t moved a muscle in six years?
Nicole is decently thin. She’s not half bad looking for a woman her age. She’s successful at getting prosecuted by the feds.
You are cute when you pretend to be your drag alter-ego “Janine” Frank.
Would you please use a more attractive AI image, though? Thanks.