FBI Failed To Spot Faked Evidence in Case Against Alleged Orgasm Cult
It’s not every day you see federal prosecutors admit they were wrong. But the fishiness of evidence from a key government witness could no longer be ignored, it seems.
In February, I wrote about the weird, weak federal case against OneTaste, a company centered around the practice of orgasmic meditation. OneTaste was dubbed an “orgasm cult” and pilloried in the media, including a Netflix documentary produced by actress Lena Dunham, and “conspiracy to commit forced labor” charges have been filed against OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone and former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz.
Key evidence in that case included journals allegedly penned by former OneTaste employee Ayries Blanck just after leaving the company. These journals also figured prominently in the 2022 Netflix documentary, Orgasm Inc.
The journal entries were always suspect—and now the government apparently agrees.
“Prior to March 2025, Blanck repeatedly maintained to the government that she wrote the Handwritten Journals in and around the time she left OneTaste,” prosecutors said in a March 12 letter to U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati. “Her account was corroborated by her sister”—Autymn Blanck, who appeared in the Netflix film to read words allegedly lifted from Ayries’ handwritten journals.
But Ayries Blanck recently admitted to prosecutors that she penned the handwritten journals years later.
“The government no longer believes that the disputed portions of the Handwritten Journals are authentic,” and “does not intend to and will not seek to admit any of Blanck’s journals at trial,” said prosecutors. They also said they will no longer call Ayries Blanck as a witness at Daedone and Cherwitz’s trial, scheduled to start in May.
Why These Journals Matter
OneTaste is a wellness company that was founded in San Francisco more than 20 years ago. Its activities have fluctuated some over the years but always included orgasmic meditation, a partnered clitoral stroking practice that practitioners call OMing.
In 2023, former executives Daedone and Cherwitz were charged with conspiracy to commit forced labor. No underlying forced labor charge was filed. (For a much longer dissection of this case, check out my Reason piece from February.)
Ayries Blanck was “Jane Doe 1” in this case—though her identity is now public—and accusations Blanck made in her journals pepper prosecutors’ allegations about Daedone and Cherwitz.
But it seems that Ayries Blanck and her sister, Autymn, repeatedly misled the FBI and prosecutors about these journals, per the government’s new admissions. And this revelation opens up wider questions about the credibility of the Blanck sisters, whose allegations about OneTaste and its former leaders have been circulated by both the media and the federal government.
Ayries Blanck’s Back Story
Ayries Blanck and her then-boyfriend became involved with OneTaste in 2012 and Blanck went on to work as a sales representative for the company. But she left in 2015, amid some personal drama, and soon sent a demand letter accusing OneTaste of a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, failure to pay minimum wage, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
OneTaste privately mediated the dispute with Blanck, paying her $325,000 in an out-of-court settlement. While OneTaste has denied Blanck’s allegations, it reasoned that the settlement would be cheaper than the cost of defending a potential lawsuit, according to an ongoing breach-of-contract suit filed against Blanck in 2022.
As part of the settlement, Blanck agreed not to “disparage OneTaste or its officers, or incite others to do so.” In its breach-of-contract suit, OneTaste argues that Blanck did not uphold her end of this bargain.
A major part of this involves Orgasm Inc, the 2022 Netflix documentary produced by Dunham. Ayries Blanck clearly could not have been in or involved with the film without violating the terms of the settlement. But, in a clever workaround, Autymn Blanck appears on camera to tell her sister’s story, reading words allegedly written by Ayries Blanck in 2015. According to Autymn Blanck, Ayries Blanck had left her handwritten journals at Autymn Blanck’s house and Autymn Blanck took it upon herself to type up portions of these journals in a Google Doc and share them with Netflix.
It must have seemed like a win-win at the time. Ayries Blanck got to “appear” in the film without violating her nondisparagement clause. Autymn Blanck got a $25,000 paycheck. And Netflix got to air some salacious allegations, including a claim that people at OneTaste ignored or even condoned violence against her and that she had been forced to engage in sexual activity with strangers.
The Journals Become State Evidence
When OneTaste later sought to review the handwritten journals, as part of the civil suit, it discovered Autymn Blanck had mailed them to FBI Special Agent Elliot McGinnis in early 2024.
Federal prosecutors would go on to employ the journals in the case against Daedone and Cherwitz, citing them in an October 2024 motion laying out the case and seeking to have them admitted as trial evidence.
“Jane Doe 1 wrote multiple handwritten journal entries both during and after she served as a student and staff member of OneTaste,” the motion stated. “The journal entries, among other things, detail Jane Doe 1’s relationships with the defendants and their co-conspirators, financial condition, and psychological state during and shortl
Article from Reason.com
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