Nicole Daedone Gets 9 Years in Forced Labor Case

On March 30, 2026, Nicole Daedone, the founder and former CEO of OneTaste Inc., was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in Brooklyn for her role in a forced labor conspiracy that prosecutors described as exploiting vulnerable women through psychological manipulation and economic pressure. The 58-year-old Daedone, convicted in June 2025 alongside co-defendant Rachel Cherwitz, faced the ruling in a packed U.S. District Court before Judge Diane Gujarati, who emphasized the severity of the scheme that operated under the guise of sexual empowerment.

Prosecutors argued that Daedone and Cherwitz, OneTaste's former sales director, ran a yearslong operation from 2006 to 2018 that groomed employees and members, many of whom were survivors of sexual trauma, into performing unpaid labor and sexual acts with clients and investors. The scheme centered on the company's core practice of orgasmic meditation, or OM, a 15-minute ritual involving clitoral stimulation promoted as a path to psychological wellness and enlightenment. Witnesses testified that participants were subjected to sleep deprivation, public shaming, constant surveillance in communal housing, and financial burdens from...