All language subtitles for True.Believers.S01E06.720p.WEBRip.x264-BAE[eztv.re].en

♪♪

-In the beginning, it was really
sweet and innocent.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-I'm powered by orgasm.

-And over time, it felt scary.

♪♪

-In 2004, OneTaste emerges
onto the scene

as leaders
of a new sexual revolution.

-I believe at some point

you will hear yoga,
meditation, and orgasm.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-The group promises
to change women's lives

through Orgasmic Meditation,
also known as OM.

-What is OM?
Take a class...

OM community, OM supplies.

-Here was this group of people,
these women,

talking about their pleasure.

It was revelatory.

-Orgasm can do
for physical connection

what the Internet
has done for us

in terms of virtual connection.

-Who wouldn't want to jump
into something

that involves everything
you could possibly want?

-But allegations
of abuse of trust

have recently surfaced
among the community.

-I had no idea
what I was getting into.

They wanted people
to be committed.

-I left my children.

I wasn't there for my children.

I chose OneTaste...

over my children.

♪♪

-We're going to play three games
tonight that are

all communication games,
and each of them

is designed to give you a flavor

of a part of the Orgasmic
Meditation experience.

-The first meeting I went to,

they would invite people up
to the hot seat

and ask them several questions,

and it almost felt like they
could see through everybody.

-Someone raised their hand
and asked me if I masturbated.

Which obviously made me
very uncomfortable.

But on the other hand,

it felt sort of exhilarating

to have people show
such deep and intimate interest

in me as a person.

-The Orgasmic Meditation
practice

is a very clear practice...
Like, they have a set of

guidelines of what you do,
there's about 15 or so steps.

-All the men were new,
all the women were new.

Nobody knew what the heck
they were doing.

-Just the idea of, like,
dropping my pants

i-in front of a stranger...

You know,
I actually almost left.

And then at the last minute,
I basically was like,

"[Bleep] it," you know,

"I'm here.
I'm going to do the thing."

♪♪

Before OneTaste,
my life was complicated.

I was coming out of a difficult

and challenging marriage.

♪♪

I had devoted myself to being
a mother full-time,

and I didn't know
who I was outside of "Mom."

♪♪

I had a lot of...

feelings of...

of desire and passion.

But then when it came
to the act of sex, um,

I didn't find it
that pleasurable.

So I signed up for a class.

♪♪

-OneTaste first launches
in San Francisco,

where it quickly finds a market
for its program

of daily Orgasmic Meditation,

a wellness practice
focusing on female orgasm

developed by founder
Nicole Daedone.

[ Chime resonates ]

-San Francisco is home
to what may be

the cutting edge of
female sex-ploration:

the OneTaste urban retreat.

I mean, it kind of looks
like a yoga class.

- Doesn't it?
- Turning sex into

a spinning class?
- More and more people

are flooding in than ever before
because I think a lot of people

are discovering that a lot of
the rules that they believed in

aren't working.

♪♪

-OneTaste always had very, like,
clean, professional branding.

It makes it so easy
to just, like, jump in.

-The whole arena of orgasm
is so dark and weird and scary.

It needed to just be out...
Out in the open.

-I would go on these dating apps
and websites

and try to find, like,
this ideal person.

And then you go out there
and meet them,

and it's just sex,
and that's it.

I wanted more of that kind of
understanding of intimacy.

I didn't know anything
about OneTaste.

It just sounded interesting,

and it sounded kind of fun
to go to, like, a meetup event.

-When I walked in through
the door for my first class,

I felt at home.

All of a sudden,
I went from knowing nothing

to being in a room
of 50, 60 people

who all wanted to talk
about the same thing.

Orgasm, specifically
women's orgasm.

-When I first heard
about OneTaste,

I had never had an orgasm.

I felt like I was broken.

I was willing to try anything.

-Although the emphasis is
squarely on female pleasure,

Orgasmic Meditation, or OM,

is a partnered practice,

typically between
a man and woman.

The woman is called the strokee

and the men are brought in
to be strokers.

-One of the exciting things
about that organization was,

you know, compared to,
let's say,

men teaching other men
how to relate to women,

it... you got it straight
from the woman's mouth.

-OM, like,
you learn as a stroker,

you learn how to actually,
like, use your own body as

a barometer to know if it's,
like, kickin' or not,

in the OM, right?

Like, is there sensation or not?

♪♪

-It was definitely the most
intense period of my life,

most fast-paced
period of my life.

And I'm glad I did it,
but I'm glad I'm not in anymore.

-I was a little nervous.
I was really nervous, honestly.

There's, like, a narrator

or kind of instructions
going on, as well.

-Now, make sure
your container of lube

is nearby and open
as we start the OM.

♪♪

-I got undressed
from the waist down.

I laid down and parted my legs.

-It's kind of a weird,
crazy experience

that we're all about to have.

-If you are the stroker,
establish contact

with your partner
by beginning to massage

her thighs and calves
gently but firmly.

-He takes his hands and places
them on the inside of my thighs.

-Place a nickel-sized
amount of lube

on your left forefinger
and your right thumb.

-He put his hand on my clitoris,

and they started
a 15-minute timer.

[ Chime ]

-Gently reach up
under her clitoral hood.

Nuzzle the tip of your finger
gradually to the back

of the pocket
formed by the hood.

-And then he just started
to stroke it.

-This stroke should be neither
a whisper nor a shout...

Stroke like a warm, wet kiss.

[ Woman moans ]

-It felt a relief.

I felt excited.

I felt everything.

-Notice what you feel
in your finger

and how her clit
and her body respond.

[ Moaning echoes ]

-Over the next 15 minutes,

the pairs are instructed
not to look at each other

and to focus
on their bodies instead.

In OM, the goal isn't climax,

but to ride the wave
of sensations and connect

with their partner's
orgasmic energy.

♪♪

-I felt this...
This jolt of electricity.

Your body's just, like,
all, like, hot and bothered

and such an intense
physiological experience.

Like, almost like you're
having sex or making out.

-It was crazy to hear
how many different sounds

that the women around me
were making.

I just felt incredible
about myself

in a way
that I never had before.

-One of the senior
staff members said

my orgasm kind of sounded
like an orchid

that was just blooming
for the first time

in 150 years.

-Hold the pressure there
so that all of the energy

that's been building
during the OM

is pushed back into her body.

Now your OM is complete.

-I was like,
"That was [bleep] amazing."

Like, "That was incredible,
terrifying and incredible."

And then all I knew is, like,
I want to do this again.

-When I left the first event,

it sort of had this guise

of being a place
where you could be safe,

but it wasn't really.

-San Francisco, gotta love it.
[ Laughs ]

So this is downtown.

That's where it used to be,
just right there.

-Inside the main centers
once operated

by the sexual wellness group
OneTaste,

members gathered in groups

for a clitoral stroking practice
called Orgasmic Meditation,

otherwise known as OM.

-This whole idea of OM,

Nicole really highlighted

how different it was
than sex or foreplay.

It was just like a connection
to another person

where you could
feel your orgasm.

-She may or may not
go into climax,

but that's not the point.
The point is to feel

that connection throughout
and to get that kind of

deep saturation
and pleasure in her body.

-Ohh.

-They had that perfect blend

of being very direct
about who they are

and what they were offering
and also trying to normalize

something that sounded so crazy.

If you could sell that,
you could sell anything.

-Though it starts out focusing
strictly on the OM practice,

what OneTaste ultimately offers

is a full life-coaching
community.

-Both of us are not just
discovering who the other is,

but we're discovering who we are
in the process

of that connection.

-All based on the central idea

that orgasm
is not a singular event,

but an enlightened
state of being to master.

-We had this big mural,
like, right outside

that was like a Venn diagram

to attract people
into the community

and get people interested
in, "What's OneTaste?

Hmm, that sounds interesting."
It was, like, powered by orgasm.

You're like, "Huh?"

It's right by Twitter.

And just down the street
is Dolby.

And then down that way
is Uber and Square.

-At the time,
OneTaste HQ is located

in one of the hottest districts
in the city.

-We had tons of tech workers
jump in... tons.

-Founder Nicole Daedone is here

to bring OneTaste to the masses.

And by 2016, she succeeds...

with new centers
and pop-up events

in cities around the world.

Attracting powerful endorsements

and influential guests.

-Of course, we've got to be
aware of the pleas...

We don't...
It doesn't just happen.

We aren't born
knowing all the secrets.

You are a part
of the new sexual revolution.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Now OneTaste events
play to big venues

that feature live OM demos,

often performed
by Nicole herself.

♪♪

[ Cheers and applause echoing ]

-OneTaste really strived

to be, like, this religion
for people.

Like, this is your dedication
to yourself.

You don't need church
because this is your church.

[ All shouting ]

-I just found myself
spending more and more time

with OneTaste people

and less and less time
with my pre-OneTaste friends.

-♪ You have made
orgasmic magic ♪

-The feeling of being
surrounded by so much love

and welcome and value

became part of the addiction.

♪♪

I grew up in Ohio.

My family was pretty normal,
but my dad died when I was 19.

After my dad passed,
I didn't really, like,

feel like I fit anywhere.

I felt very alone.

-In cities around the world,
devoted members

independently organized
and moved into OM houses,

communal living spaces
where they could immerse

in Orgasmic Meditation practice
as a lifestyle.

♪♪

-As soon as I moved up
to San Francisco,

I talked to the OM houses
and I moved right in.

OM houses seemed like
really co-op, good spaces

that people could, like,
nourish themselves in and grow.

I think the first room
I lived in

was just right on this corner,
and at times there were

12 people living in there,

and we had guests come
on top of that.

So it got crowded in there
for sure.

-Living in the OM house
was kind of like being

in a spiritual-ish reality show.

Everyone was
so emotionally open.

-It was kind of like a little
experiment lab, you know?

It was a research lab for us.

-Alright. We're doing a little
bit of research and development

for how to spoon
for [bleep] morons right now.

-So, 7:00 AM,
we would go downstairs, um,

pair up with someone,
do the OM practice twice.

There's always two OMs.

Two people
would usually cook breakfast

while everyone else
would clean the house.

-Justine, what's good
about your morning?

-Um, making a nice big
cup of tea.

Just wrote some fear inventory
and eating an amazing breakfast.

-They put you in a room
with someone

who is kind of opposite you

to basically push your buttons
and see what happened.

-While some OM houses
were run by OneTaste,

most were operated independently
by resident.

And managed
by so-called "OM Moms,"

senior female members
of OneTaste.

-We had a house mom
in the OM House who put me

with a very large older man

to share a bed with.

And he had so much trash
in his room

that the side of his bed
was just full of empty bottles.

I had to take that
as a challenge and thrive in it,

thrive no matter
what was happening to me.

-The whole principle of this
was stay connected

no matter what...
It was like, okay,

if you're having
very strong feelings,

negative feelings about someone,
like, have an OM with them.

♪♪

-And they kind of just made it
so, like, normalized.

Like, why not?
Everybody does that.

It's, like,
everybody's doing it.

It's just like a handshake.
It's like a high five.

-You're also, you know...
You're getting hits of oxytocin

is what you're doing.

If you're OM'ing
one, two, three, four, five

times every day,
you're gettin' high.

-Inside OneTaste, Nicole's
followers start to explore

their deepest emotions,
fears, and traumas.

-I just want to be with you,
the human being,

and I want to know every
single aspect of who you are.

-When she locked eyes with me,

it really felt like she had
unlocked something in me.

-So to get where I want to go,

I need you...

to get there.

So then I have to become
an entirely different person.

If I realize the depth to which
I need another human being

to go to the most profound place
I want to get to.

-This wasn't someone
just on a pedestal preaching

what they thought.

She'd been in the trenches.

She was my mentor, you know?

I looked up to her.

♪♪

-OneTaste is not merely
going mainstream.

It's racing up the list of
the fastest-growing companies

in America.

-I was in the OM house the
entire time I was with OneTaste.

My kids at the time
were living with their father.

There was so much encouragement

of me being a part of OneTaste

and doing courses
and going deeper

and practicing on a really
obsessive crazy level.

Like, I didn't have a life
outside of OneTaste.

-My friends back home
expressed a lot of concern.

They felt like
if I didn't leave OneTaste,

then the person that they had
initially become friends with

was gone forever.

-It's just a strange thing
to tell your friends.

Like, "I share beds with people
in this community

and I connect
with older people."

It's just a very strange,
alienating world to be in.

But I wanted to be one of them.

-I have no idea, like,
how much I really spent.

I knew it was, like, a range,
but I didn't actually add it up,

and I still haven't actually
added everything up.

-Full dedication to the sexual
wellness group OneTaste

means total immersion
in their program.

-We have managed somehow

to get this field
re-saturated again.

-All based on the vision
of founder Nicole Daedone

and her Orgasmic Meditation
practice.

But devoting to her expanding
range of courses adds up fast.

-The mastery is $3,400,
and then there's, like,

a "Nicole Daedone
Coaching Circle,"

and that's $1,200.

$40K. So, I mean, this might
have been what I spent.

♪♪

-I spent about $100,000,
all in all,

in OneTaste courses.

And it makes me so sick.

That's a lot of money.

Like, that's a lot
of [bleep] money.

-You as a woman,
your power is surrendered.

That's how you create
the man you want.

-And the prescription
is just OM.

-It's... It's OM, and, you know,

and then there's all of these
other crazy practices I do

that you can check in with.

But...
- Okay.

-The leadership, including
one of the group's top

salespeople, Rachel Cherwitz,

encouraged members to continue
their OneTaste education.

-Okay. Hello out there!

We talk about this idea
about being the difference,

and we have a program
that I think in a way

most potently gets people
in touch with it.

And that's our coaching program.

-Every event, Rachel would
pitch the coaching program,

which was a $15,000,
year-long training program

to become an orgasm coach.

-So, we are welcoming
and ushering in

the next leaders
in our orgasm movement.

-The coaching program
was really that, like,

entrance
into being part of them.

You felt like,
okay, I'll be a leader next.

I'll be, like, something bigger.

- Hello...
- Hello!

[ Cheers and applause ]

-I told Rachel
that I was interested

but probably couldn't afford it,
and she told me,

"Don't worry about it.

If there's a desire,
there's a way."

By the end of the chat
with Rachel,

I was handing her
my credit card.

-And you get
a copper necklace that says,

"Remember to remember."

That's basically $11K
right there.

I mean, it really is
a powerful symbol for me.

-I was literally
going to the food bank,

and I basically had

$300 in my bank account,

and someone convinced me
that I should

take that money
and put it towards a class.

-In response to these claims,
OneTaste asserts

that arrangements
to fund participation

in its programs were the
decisions of individual members

and they did not use
overly aggressive sales tactics.

♪♪

-As soon as money
came into the picture,

things started
to quickly devolve,

and it became not just about
Orgasmic Meditation...

It was other classes.

♪♪

-Every technique
that anyone ever taught you,

like, let that go.

You have to take the cock
all the way back.

And the thing is,
there's a pleasure point.

It's a clit
where your entire body

starts to go
into a state of orgasm.

After years of OM,
my relationship to cocksucking

has dramatically shifted.

-According to some members,

the deeper they'd go
into the OneTaste program,

the further their focus strayed
from the original promise

of female empowerment.

Members were encouraged
to perform acts

that made them uncomfortable

in a practice known
as aversion therapy.

-It was supposed to...
Like, the whole thing was, like,

oh, feminine orgasm
and it's the feminine.

Okay, that's kind of like
where you start,

and then you continue to grow
your practice in other ways.

♪♪

-You should go into experiences
that you dislike,

because that was the way

to be reaching
the next level of your freedom.

Like, that's the thing
that's blocking you

from being completely free
as an individual.

-You would have situations

where you have to have sex

with this many people this week,

even if we don't want to.

-Or, like, this person
has to do a blowjob

every day
with a different person.

You know,
just like an offering almost.

-OneTaste claims that members

who chose to explore
their aversions

did so voluntarily,
were never pressured,

and that activities
were always suggestions

and not instructions.

-As a young man, Rachel would
set up women to OM with me

who were identified
to have money,

typically slightly older women.

♪♪

But very often you would see,
like... it was usually

a young, attractive woman

somehow encouraged or paired up
with a guy who had money.

-They really tried to, like,
make me have a lot

of different OMs
with a lot of different people,

and I went to one of the leaders
and I was like,

"A lot of older people
are asking me to OM,

and I don't feel comfortable."

-Something that we play with
at OneTaste

is that perhaps...

"no" means "not right now."

-I thought that a space
that was supposedly

women-positive would be safe.

But once your boundaries

for who you were willing
to sleep with

became more malleable,
it could be molded

into what was ever advantageous
for the company

at the time
to help meet their goals.

-While the popularity
and the profits of OneTaste

were on the rise by 2015,

some inside the community
were growing concerned

about its practices

and their participation
in the program.

-Nicole had this talk about
how old people are really,

really wonderful
to have in your life,

and they can provide
a lot of orgasmic energy,

and she kind of hinted to how

she was financially
supported by them.

-Part of it very often
was to get a guy who had money,

even though that was never
the advertised reason.

The advertised reason was
that it was to help her grow.

-They would specifically go for
a lot of very rich tech guys.

-One of those men
is Reese Jones,

inventor, venture capitalist,
and OneTaste donor.

He was also at one time rumored
to be Nicole's boyfriend.

Mr. Jones states that any
monetary contribution he made

was a formal loan
and interest was paid on return.

-Nicole would often say
OneTaste runs on two currencies,

money and orgasm.

It was framed as a way, like,
this is part of our growth

to make sure the OneTaste
business existed

so we could keep learning
and growing spiritually

from OneTaste.

-It's one thing
if you want to be an escort,

but it's a completely
different thing

when you're secretly kind of
being groomed to be one...

and you're paying out money
in addition to that.

♪♪

-OneTaste deny that people were
expected to perform sex acts

to ensure further funding
to OneTaste

through wealthy benefactors.

♪♪

-I ended up seeing someone

who was twice my age
at the time.

He really preached this idea
that growth is uncomfortable,

and so if you're uncomfortable,
you're doing something right.

He would have sex with me,

and I kind of
just let it happen.

It wasn't really something
that I wanted to do,

but I felt like I had to.

-Something that we play with
at OneTaste

is that perhaps...

"no" means "not right now."

So the best thing
I can tell you is keep going

and know that if she's
still on your mind,

even after she brutally rejected
you out of the blue

and you can't believe it,

she still wants you.

♪♪

-There were several older people

that weren't always
respecting consent.

They had this thing
in the community

called, like,
"going off the rails,"

and going off the rails
could mean

that somebody, like, fingered
somebody instead of OM'ing.

And that has happened
many times.

And they don't stop it.

They do not protect the women.

-I feel like, being part
of this community,

saying no to sexual things
didn't feel like a comfortable

or okay thing to do.

-In its response to the claims,

OneTaste said that it emphasizes
mutual consent,

including the use
of a traffic-light system

of safe words
to protect female participants.

It denies involvement
in creating environments

where abuse could take place.

-What OM'ing does is it...
You...

And this is what, you know,
like, people are like, "Ahh."

It's so beautiful"...
Yeah, until you get into

the real practice,
and the real practice is,

you've cultivated enough orgasm
in your body

that now you can actually feel

the blocks
that are in your body,

and they're terribly,
terribly uncomfortable.

In your consciousness...
[ Stammers ]

And so then the orgasm
begins to move through

and it's beating up
against something...

That's usually
when people are like,

"Mm, you know,
I'm kind of done OM'ing."

And that... and for me, that's
right when OM'ing starts.

That's the gateway.

-People inherently don't
find women to be as predatory,

and so I think in a way,
it actually created a space

that allowed
for more predatory behavior.

-Beginning in 2014,
OneTaste offers devoted members

a new opportunity to partake
in a special retreat.

It costs around $7,000.

♪♪

-Magic School
was just an extension

of asking this question,

how weird can we get

and have people

be okay with what we're doing?

-In that weekend, we did
a shared OM with a partner,

so, like, you provide a male OM
and they provide a female OM,

so you're basically, like,
jerking each other off,

but they make it seem like
it's some special experience.

I just didn't enjoy it.
I didn't want that experience.

I, like, didn't know
where to put my mind.

-The main ritual of Magic School
was where they unveiled

what was called
the priestess of orgasm.

-A priest or priestess of orgasm

was, like, the coolest term
to be called.

It was something that we all,
like, strived to be.

-This was this ritual where

the seven highest-ranking women
in OneTaste

got on these seven tables
on the stage

with black veils on their faces,
and they were totally naked.

And these seven men
would stroke the women,

and then every couple of minutes
they would rotate.

And, um, yeah, these seven guys
were now exalted

as these important men
in the OM community.

-Usually, guys that had plenty
of money to spend on OneTaste.

-Nicole always seemed angelic.

She seemed godlike sometimes.

One thing Nicole would say
very often

is OneTaste was
her vehicle to God.

Leaving OneTaste
was really difficult

because at this point,
at Magic School,

I could not even have a negative
thought about Nicole.

-So all of us
were feeling this at once.

"I don't know who I am.

I don't... I'm in
the middle of something.

It's not making sense,
and I have to stay in it.

So I don't know
what I'm doing next."

-It's confusing. Who are we
outside of OneTaste?

What is our connection
outside of OneTaste?

I don't know.

♪♪

-My name is Ellen Huet,
and I'm a reporter.

It's hard for me to really say
what Nicole's ultimate goal was.

It's a little hard to know
what exactly happened.

The more I learned
about OneTaste, I thought,

"Wow, this is a big story,"

and I was definitely interested
in finding out more.

-With plans to further expand,

OneTaste leaders
launch a media push.

-I think they were hoping that
they would get some coverage

from more mainstream
business publications

and that might help
their business.

I was... I was pretty intrigued.

-But the more Ellen reaches out

to OneTaste members
independently,

the more the story takes a turn.

-I was finally ready
to leave OneTaste

and really told what was
going on behind the scenes,

but I wasn't expecting a lot,
because a lot of people

had written about
OneTaste before,

and I felt like no one
really understood it.

-The more people I talked to,

the more I heard
the same pattern...

Having their boundaries
pushed physically

or financially or emotionally.

This is a sign that something
really wrong happened here.

♪♪

-After investigating
for over six months,

the exposé goes to print
in June of 2018.

♪♪

-I remember reading the article
and almost crying

because it just validated
so many experiences

that I had had in OneTaste

that I had never been able
to talk about.

-I just started
to, like, wake up,

and then it just kind of hit me
like a tidal wave.

It was like, "Holy shit.
This is a cult."

-I invested
all my time and money

into these people.

I didn't care if I was going
to see these people again

at a certain point
because I was just done.

-I eventually decided I had to
leave because there's no way

I was going to spend the rest
of my life in... in OneTaste.

-Four months later,
OneTaste rebrands

as the "Institute of OM."

It ceases all in-person classes
and shutters its U.S. centers.

-Back then, it looked so clean
and professional on the outside.

It's super weird to see it now,
because it's, like, boarded up

and looks like
an entirely different zone.

-If this Bloomberg article
didn't come out,

OneTaste would probably
have kept growing

and growing and growing.

Yeah, I mean, it changed
everything for OneTaste.

-The rebranded group continues
to deny any wrongdoing,

but now its activities
are attracting

a different kind of interest.

♪♪

-I also started to hear
from some of my sources

that the FBI
was knocking on their door,

so they were calling them,
they were showing up

at their doorstep
and asking them questions

about OneTaste.

The FBI investigation is
significant because there are,

you know, potentially criminal
repercussions for the company.

You know, this could be a crime.

-The FBI declined to comment on

the status of its probe
into OneTaste.

However, Ellen makes
another discovery

centered around
a grievance raised

by a former OneTaste employee.

-One of the most dramatic
and tangible things that I found

was that OneTaste had, in 2015,

paid out a $325,000 settlement
out of court

to a former employee who claimed
that she had been instructed

to have sex with customers
and with managers

and that there had been
other labor violations

during her time at OneTaste.

And so seeing some of
the allegations detailed

in the complaint
was pretty intense.

It's definitely a case
that other people in OneTaste

talk about a lot.

It was very serious at the time

and something that the company
has, I think, really tried

to move past, but something
that a lot of people remember.

-At this point,
OneTaste is kind of dissolved,

so even if we have
all this information,

I don't know if there's anything
we can really do

to hold the people that did
these things accountable.

-It's like it doesn't really
matter how much, like, money

you get or if there's,
like, resolution

or maybe legal action
against OneTaste.

It's like... those events leave

a permanent scar
on your psychology.

And I think
there's nothing more damaging

than betrayal in that sense.

It's like... to have
people you closely trust

stab you in the back.

-In the year prior
to the OneTaste exposé,

Nicole sold the company,

allegedly for
millions of dollars.

Nicole's current whereabouts
are unknown

to most former OneTaste members.

-I don't know
where Nicole is now.

-I'd heard various things
throughout the years.

They said she's in Thailand, but
then I talked to another person,

and they'd say she's in Marin,
and, you know,

talked to another person,

they just think
she's been in France.

And it's like...
We don't know where she is.

-[Bleep] if I know
where Nicole is. Bali?

-People were speculating
that she went there

because Indonesia
doesn't extradite to the U.S.

-I don't think Nicole Daedone
is gone at all.

I think
she's very good at hiding,

but I don't think
she's any less present

in whatever they're doing now.

-When are they going to be
held accountable?

When is Nicole going
to be held accountable?

Like, there's no predicted,
you know, place,

there's no set place
that we know she is, and...

-It's like, I'm glad
that we're in a situation

where we got out of this,
but they just get to get away

and there's nothing they can do.

-In the wake of
OneTaste's implosion,

former members of the group
are reconnecting

with a shared mission.

-How do you pin them down?
How do you hold any of

the people accountable
that did all that [bleep]?

I think Nicole's hiding.
- She's got a lot of connections.

She's got a lot of people
who can help her out,

and she knows a lot
of very powerful people.

So it's...

Who knows where she is, really.

-So maybe six months ago, um,
I was scrolling through Twitter

and came across an article
that Nicole was missing.

I kind of set to work trying to,
you know,

find as much out about her
on the Internet,

just sort of as a hobby.

-Though Nicole's trail
has gone cold,

a tip from an independent writer

offers the most promising lead
in months.

-So there's a Zoom call
hosted by

the new organization,

and this story is far from over.

But I'm going to
send you this photo.

So, she's in the lower
left-hand corner.

It's a little difficult
to make out.

- Oh, wow.
- And the name is almost

cropped out, but you can clearly
read that it says "Nicole."

She was present
during a recorded Zoom call

with over a dozen former
OneTaste executives,

people that are heavily involved
in OneTaste.

-That's interesting.

Yeah, and I see
so many familiar faces.

♪♪

Is this a new project?

-Every indication
that I've gotten

is that they are involved

in a bunch of new organizations.

The most notable of this
is a project

called the
Unconditional Freedom Project,

and it's a jail ministry
which is in North California.

-What are they doing? Are they
visiting prisons or they're...?

-Yeah, they visit
the prisons in person.

I've had no indication

that there's any sort of OM'ing
or anything like that.

But the entire organization
is essentially

ministering to some inmates,

the homeless,
and other people in need.

-Oh, God. It's just...
I'm so insulted

that they're continuing anything

because they are
a toxic community

going after, like,
vulnerable groups of people.

Really freaks me out.

-That may change with
an upcoming FBI investigation.

Um, we don't exactly know
when the results of that

will be released,
so while that investigation

is happening, it seems like
everything is sort of in limbo.

-She's still active,
and they are still active.

They do Zoom meetings.
Nicole's on them.

-If the FBI investigation
continues

and, like,
shit really hits the fan,

like, they can act like
they're good people

doing all this, like,
charity work.

-Yeah, it's the perfect cover,
right?

-I don't trust, like,
anything that they're up to.

♪♪

-Yes, I do think
I was in a cult.

There were so many indicators
looking back.

It became less about
a group of people

wanting to understand
and explore Orgasmic Meditation

into an environment created
to coerce and manipulate.

♪♪

-OneTaste categorically
denies being a cult

and refutes allegations
that the organization

pressured anyone
to stay in the community

or to take part in any activity
against their will.

♪♪

-I think it's like
an innocent kind of way

to look at things to be like,
"Oh, she was just trying to draw

this community together
to have them learn

a different way to connect
with one another."

It seems innocent.
That's exactly what they wanted.

That was like their way
of cultivating us

to letting down our boundaries
with everybody.

-OneTaste put me through
the experience

of allowing yourself
to be violated,

which I don't think
is an experience

that anyone really needs to
or should have in their life.

-My biggest regret
is the amount of time

I allowed to be taken from me
and my children

because of OneTaste.

Like, I... I chose wrong.

That's the hardest part
of the whole thing.

The money.
Whatever. It's money.

But the relationship
with my children

is not as easily fixed.

♪♪

-For seven months of my life,
I was part of a sex cult.

♪♪