The founder of sexual wellness company OneTaste was sentenced on Monday to nine years in prison for her role in a forced labor scheme in which employees and participants in the company’s educational courses were pressured into performing sexual acts.
Nicole Daedone, who co-founded OneTaste in 2004, was convicted in June—jurors in Brooklyn, New York, found that she and another company executive, Rachel Cherwitz, coerced victims—most of them women—into carrying out unpaid or underpaid menial work. According to federal prosecutors, the scheme, which operated for more than a decade, also forced some of them into sexual relationships with OneTaste investors.
Daedone was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati, who presided over the five-week trial. Cherwitz, the former head of sales and a close associate of Daedone, is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.
The case is U.S. v. Daedone, No. 23-cr-146, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).