OneTaste ‘Priest of Orgasm’ Sings for the Prosecution; Kosley meditated, he documented, he testified—badly

In Frank Report’s ongoing coverage of the OneTaste trial (USA v Rachel Cherwitz and Nicole Daedone), we  look at the witnesses and their testimony. In this post, Chris Kosley’s direct examination. A subsequent post will cover his cross-examination.

He Filmed Everything – Except Crimes That Never Happened

The government called Christopher St. John Kosley.

In late 2006, he joined OneTaste. He stayed for ten years. Not as a casual participant. Not as a victim. As the guy holding the camera. He made the videos. Edited them. Archived them. Sold them.

According to Kosley, almost every OneTaste course was recorded. If not on video, then audio.

Nicole Daedone, the so-called cult leader, was almost always on camera. Rachel Cherwitz, her second-in-command, too.

He filmed promotional clips. Course content. Event footage. Enough to fill a digital vault.

And yet, after a decade of recording “everything,” no footage has surfaced showing the alleged coercion, abuse, or criminal acts the government claims were rampant.

Instead, what Kosley offers is something simpler: video evidence that the courses were organized, structured, and led by adults who knew they were being recorded.

He wasn’t hiding behind a curtain. He was in plain sight, with a tripod.

So the question becomes: If OneTaste was a crime scene, where’s the crime?

Kosley filmed the whole thing.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kayla Bensing, Kosley explained that he backed up media projects onto portable hard drives to avoid data loss. He later compiled material from various drives into a single hard drive for use by Netflix documentary producers.

That drive was subpoenaed and provided to the FBI in September 2022.

He worked under Nicole. Worked alongside Rachel.

He filmed classes, cut video, made promotional material. He confirmed the files shown in court.

He lived at “the Warehouse.” A concrete name for a strange little chapter in California counterculture.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kayla Bensing pulled up a video—Exhibit 3820—and Kosley nodded. “I shot that,” he said. A tour of the space.

It sat in his archives for over a decade.

The footage opened on Folsom Street. Then the camera followed into the Warehouse. Through the foyer, past a makeshift closet where people kept their belongings. A shared bathroom. Then curtains, leading into the main room. Kosely walked them through it. A building, a layout, a memory.

Kosley Gave the Government Its Porn

Bensing asked about Stinson Beach. He filmed there too. At a private home.

And the event? A demo. Orgasmic meditation. There were investors. A pitch. A window into the heart of OneTaste.

Kosley confirmed, Nicole Daedone was the subject of the “orgasmic meditation” demo. Rachel Cherwitz introduced it. And the whole thing was staged for cameras and investors.

Then came the video—Government Exhibit 3802-A-1. Kosely admitted he was “often tasked” with recording “momentous events” at OneTaste. This was supposedly one of them.

Q          Mr. Kosley, what happens next in the demo?

A          Nicole gets up and takes off her robe. Or her robe is taken off for her and she is naked and lays on the table and then another part of the demo Josh Boshnack strokes her genitals for the roughly the next hour.

Kosley explains he filmed Daedone being stroked in front of an audience. Filmed people — including investors — putting their hands on her thigh. He filmed her teaching, coaching, and kissing an investor. The feds call it exploitation.

If this was a sex cult masquerading as a business, why was it all on tape? Why did Kosley, for a decade, calmly document it?

He gave the DOJ hours of footage showing Daedone — not hiding — but onstage, mic’d up, in broad daylight. She was teaching.

And when asked what she taught about “victims,” Kosley said she warned about the power of victim stories. That they attract attention. Sympathy. Headlines.

That may be the most prophetic thing Nicole Daedone ever said. Because now her trial is the victim story.

Kosley, the Confused

If you’re looking for clarity, don’t ask Kosley.

The DOJ’s prized videographer can’t remember where the recording happened, when it happened, how long it was, who was there, or even why Daedone was speaking.

He says she claimed “being exploited can actually be a good thing.”

Really? That’s their headline? From a six-minute clip buried in four and a half hours of audio he didn’t bother to review — even though he testified under oath that he did?

Yes. He said he listened to the whole thing. Then admitted under cross: he listened to maybe 15 or 20 minutes. When caught, he chalked it up to a misunderstanding.

The prosecution plays clips. Kosley guesses what they mean.

Emails and Texts

Then they pull up an old email from 2011 — another supposed smoking gun. It’s a weekly recruiting invite from Rachel Cherwitz: “Nicole and Rob will be leading In Group tonight. Big night of turn on.”

Sounds more like a sales pitch than sex trafficking. No threats. No coercion. No locks on the door.

This is what the DOJ calls evidence: ambiguous tapes, foggy recollections, and a witness who kept the receipts for years — only to misquote his own files on the stand.

The Sales Event Wasn’t a Cult 

What they showed the jury was a guideline sheet — the kind you’d hand out at a staff meeting. It said:

• Don’t poach leads from the sales team.
• Don’t scare off newcomers by bragging about “group showers” or your last “hot threesome.”
• And — perhaps most shocking — don’t joke that you live in a cult.

That last one? They repeated three times. “Please, please, please.” Because the biggest threat to OneTaste’s reputation was the joke that it was a cult — not the reality.

The DOJ also introduced a course outline from something called the “Taboo” series in New York. And guess who ran it? Kosley.

He didn’t just set up chairs. He taught the course. He managed logistics. Handled video. Taught participants.

If this was cult coercion, Kosley was a department head.

And the “evidence”? A list of PR do’s and don’ts, ending with: “Be turned on and get ready to play.”

That’s not forced labor. That’s corporate retreat energy.

The Priest of Orgasm 

Kosley admits — under oath — that Nicole Daedone told stories about Ephesus. About priestesses who “fucked the war out of men.” He says it without flinching.

Because he was one of them. Not one of the soldiers. One of the priests.

Yes, the government’s witness — the man now testifying to alleged coercion and abuse — was inducted as a “priest of orgasm” by Nicole and Rachel themselves.

He says he was “devoted to the path.” He didn’t flee. He ascended. He helped run weekend trainings. He texted with Rachel about how to manage the back room during demos. He used words like “powwow” and “mega grounded.” He ran the show. Made sure the energy was “clean.”

Rachel told him anyone with too much “sales charge” had to leave the room. Anyone who was too eager to pitch. Too pushy. Too “shaky.” That’s the opposite of coercion. That’s a company trying to avoid the kind of aggression the government now claims was central to its operation.

And the government knows it. Which is why they try to make the whole thing sound sinister — from iMessage exports to iPhone audio clips to emails that mention the word “temple.”

Kosley was not some passive observer caught in a sex cult. He was on stage, in ceremony, in production, on text duty, and in the priesthood.

If this was a crime family, he wasn’t a victim. He was management.

A priest of orgasm turned priest of government.

  Priest, Producer, and Government Pet Witness

The record shows Kosley texting Rachel Cherwitz logistics:

“Just did a good little pep talk with the back of house team…”

He wasn’t begging for help. He wasn’t protesting. He was running the floor.

He made sure the team was “solid with sales” and “solid with the protocol.” Rachel told him she wanted “sheets on chairs.” He made it happen.

These weren’t the actions of a man in distress. These were the actions of a lieutenant—trusted, respected, executing orders without question.

Then came the texts with Nicole Daedone.

The government’s grand narrative of coercion and trauma includes a warm “You doing amazing, Koz.” Nicole texted it like a proud coach.

Kosley responded like a guy who just landed a promotion. Heart emoji included.

Now, he’s in court, reading back those same texts  — presented not as friendship, teamwork, or adult participation, but as evidence of exploitation.

So Happy He Almost Cried

Let’s drop the courtroom drama for a second and read what Kosley actually wrote to Nicole Daedone in January 2015:

“Damned if I’m not happy.
I mean, so happy I almost started crying today.
Just from being so goddamn happy.”

This is not a hostage note. This is not the writing of a man under duress, trapped in a coercive sex cult.

This is a love letter to a life he helped build — full of gratitude, creative collaboration, and spiritual nonsense about “marriage strokes” and the “masc and fem coming together.”

Kosley was all in. He wasn’t running. He was reflecting. Asking questions about writing, partnership, symbolism.

Nicole talks tarot, reclamation, subversion, and climax. Not power. Not punishment. Not control. They’re riffing. Philosophizing. Building a worldview.

And yes, the “third dimensional implications” of marriage are raised — but not to protest abuse. To ponder metaphysics.

This is the government’s witness? The man who once asked Nicole for help with writer’s block? Who texted, “I like a little subversion, too.”

And when he did raise concerns — months later — it wasn’t about trafficking. It was about people leaving “under bad circumstances.” He wanted to know “why.”

That’s it. Not who was abused. Not who was forced. Not what crime occurred. Just… why.

But the DOJ wants us to forget the joy, the pride, the priesthood, the production credits, the gratitude. They want to erase the texts. Rewrite the feelings.

But the evidence is right there, in his own trembling words:

“Just from being so goddamn happy.”

And that’s what they’re trying to prosecute.

A Big Boy

In January 2015, Koseley was texting Nicole Daedone about “how to be happy no matter what.” Not how to escape. Not how to sue. Not how to expose a criminal enterprise.

He was quoting the Big Book. Channeling Adyashanti. Sharing lessons from breakups and breakthroughs. Reflecting on his time at OneTaste with phrases like:

“It was completely volitional.”
“I decided I was going to enjoy myself.”
“There’s always going to be assholes and idiots above and below me.”
“I can’t depend on them to cooperate.”

He name-drops his girlfriend Hemsi. His ex, Lianna.

Nicole replies with affirmations.

“It’s a practice.”

“Really touched it.”

“Now it tells you what to do and you do that.”

In any other world, this would be private. Cringe, maybe. But private.

Instead, the DOJ parades it into evidence — holding it up like it’s a blueprint for abuse, when it’s clearly just two grown-ups wading through the murky waters of spiritual ambition and adult feelings.

And if there’s one phrase that defines Kosley’s mindset more than any other, it’s this:

“It was completely volitional.”

The government can’t scrub that away.

Kosley didn’t just admit his joy. He documented it.

And now they’re trying to prosecute the happiness he once declared so openly — he almost cried.

The Fourth Dimension Is Govt. Exhibit 4504-C

In most trials, prosecutors bring crime scenes and receipts. In this one, they brought cosmic therapy texts about karma, consciousness, and “the fourth dimension.”

Kosley tells Nicole Daedone about Lianna — an ex who felt “mishandled.” Not assaulted. Not trafficked. Mishandled. By whom? Hemsi. RC. A few others.

And how? According to Kosley, it was tone. Compassion. Emotional support — or the lack of it. Lianna was upset about being fired from a yoga studio. Upset that people didn’t show kindness. That she was “shellshocked.” That Rachel Cherwitz texted her to get her “head out of her ass.”

This is what the DOJ is calling abuse?

Kosley goes on like he’s Deepak Chopra:

“So delightfully, predictably miserable.”
“It was completely volitional.”
“The challenge is seeing a 4th dimensional activity from a 3D lens.”
“We are karmically bound.”

This isn’t evidence of a criminal conspiracy. It’s a seminar in New Age heartbreak.

Nicole responds.

“Your self-will wants misery.”

“It’s obvious from the fourth dimension.”

“They are still stuck, and now you have ‘tried to trick them.’”

These are not the words of a cult leader coercing subordinates. They’re the ramblings of a soul coach helping a friend navigate emotional fallout from interpersonal dynamics.

At no point does anyone describe threats, force, fear, or criminality. They describe feelings.

And that’s the government’s entire case. Not blood. Not chains. Just feelings. Resentments. Hurt. And a text message that says:

“We are trying to become a bit more civilized.”

That’s what’s on trial here. Not sex. Not labor. Not violence. A group of adults trying to civilize their spiritual journey.

The Sleeping Masses, and a Side of Extreme Pizza

By the time we get to the last exhibit in Kosley’s text thread saga, Kosley and Daedone were discussing awakening.

They called outsiders “the sleeping.” They used “wake up” to mean escaping ordinary life. They saw OneTaste not as a cult, but as an alternative consciousness project — one with rules, rituals, and embarrassing emojis.

And what does Kosley say? Not “We were running a con.” Not “We were exploiting women.” He says it’s hard to remember that time because both sides hate you — the normies and the converted.

The punchline? This testimony — full of emoji tears, ego metaphors, and quotes about “truth without filter” — is what the DOJ submitted to prove coercion.

Not contracts. Not threats. Not silence. Words. Open, verbose, vulnerable.

They even got a courtroom definition of “wake up.” Kosley explains it meant moving from default life to “awake” life — learning orgasmic meditation, embracing OneTaste’s concepts.

Daedone wasn’t telling people to commit crimes. She was telling them to stop being asleep. That’s not illegal.

From Master Stroker to Government Star

Christopher St John Kosley — priest of orgasm, videographer, production manager, coach, and maybe-but-not-quite “Master Stroker” — didn’t leave OneTaste on a wave of enlightenment. He got fired.

Why?

Because he took a OneTaste rental van, bought cocaine, and vanished on an all-night bender.

That’s what he told the jury.

Then OneTaste sued him for breach of contract — specifically over the same video and audio files he later sold to Netflix.

Let that sink in.

He gets fired for a coke-fueled joyride. Keeps the intellectual property. Sells it illegally, Gets sued. Settles in 2023. Then reemerges as the government’s archivist-in-chief — the man tasked with authenticating the very evidence he once hoarded and sold in breach of a legal agreement.

The DOJ doesn’t see a problem with this. They call him reliable. Credible. Essential.

When asked if he was a “Master Stroker,” he dodges — “I don’t know if I was ever officially given that title.”

This is the DOJ’s witness: a man who once described himself as “so goddamn happy” he nearly cried — who ended his OneTaste career with cocaine and a contract dispute.

They gave him a seat on the witness stand and handed him a microphone. He gave them metaphors, emojis, and Enlightenment 101.

And they’re calling it forced labor.

Frank Parlato

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.

Frank Parlato

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.

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