Feds are ‘criminalizing sex’ in NYC case against alleged ‘orgasm cult’ OneTaste: lawyers
Published By admin with Comments 0
The feds are “criminalizing sex” and looking to put people “in prison for funsies” by prosecuting the two glamorous leaders of embattled “sexual wellness” empire OneTaste, their lawyers claimed Wednesday.
“I would say the government is trying to criminalize sex. That is what this case is about, make no bones about it,” said Duncan Levin, who represents the company’s head of sales Rachel Cherwitz, after a hearing in Brooklyn federal court.
Cherwitz and the company’s founder Nicole Daedone are slated to head to trial in January 2025 on charges that they operated OneTaste like a cult by grooming members into having sex with investors and clients, while driving the members into debt. Both women have been charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The pair were in court Wednesday for a hearing in which their lawyers argued that the case should be thrown out for what they claimed was “misconduct” by the feds, including an FBI agent allegedly ordering a key witness to delete her email account.
But prosecutors — calling the defense’s claims “baseless” and “speculative” — responded in court papers that the agent in question was simply trying to protect the witness from harassment she’d received from other OneTaste members, rather than destroy evidence.
Daedone and Cherwitz were flanked in court Wednesday by around a dozen followers of their California-based company, also known as the Institute of OM or Eros, which is currently offering its orgasm meditation classes out of a Harlem office, according to a spokesperson.
The “orgasmic meditation” treatment, in which a group of women have their genitals stroked methodically for 15 minutes, “is a transformative practice that heals maladies ranging from sexual dysfunction and trauma to depression and anxiety,” its website boasts.
Content retrieved from: https://nypost.com/2024/07/03/us-news/feds-are-criminalizing-sex-in-nyc-case-against-alleged-orgasm-cult-onetaste-lawyers/.
