For months, the prosecutors for the Eastern District of NY had built their case against OneTaste executives Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz on the words of Ayries Blanck, a woman they painted as a victim in the case. Blanck, who the government referred to as “Victim #1”, was the government’s star witness.
Ayries Blanck, the government’s Victim #1 wasn’t such a victim after all. Her lying to federal agents and fabricating evidence constitute federal crimes.
Their forced labor conspiracy case hinged on her stories of mistreatment and manipulation as described in her journal.
For more than 18 months, federal prosecutors, led by AUSA Gillian Kassner, insisted that Blanck’s journals—purported firsthand accounts of abuse and coercion written in 2015—were authentic.
The government wrote in November 2024:
“The journals constitute the best evidence of [Blanck’s] then-existing psychological and emotional state.”
“[Blanck’s] ‘s journals also include excited utterances written while [Blanck’s] was still under the stress and excitement of her departure from OneTaste.”
AUSA Gillian Kassner had to finally admit that the journals she touted were an utter fraud.
In an extraordinary legal filing, which the prosecutors quickly put under seal, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of NY finally admitted that Ayries Blanck’s journals are fake.
The revelation came unceremoniously: Blanck had fabricated the journals. She had lied—again and again—to federal agents, to prosecutors, to the court itself. And the government, rather than uncovering the truth, had accepted her lies, repeated them, and used them to bring charges against two defendants.
The admission of this by Kassner and her associate AUSAs was not just a correction.
For months, the defense had claimed deception. Experts had combed through the journals, finding inconsistencies, impossible dates, and anachronisms that could not be explained.
For example, a book, the Post Traumatic Growth Guide, was quoted in Blank’s February 22, 2015 journal entry, when the book was not published until almost five years later.
When the defense raised these issues, the government dismissed them.
Until now.
Faced with undeniable proof that the journal was written for a Netflix documentary seven years after the 2015 date Blanck insisted was accurate; that FBI Special Agent Elliot McGinnis had received the journal on his email, not the FBI email; that Blanck sent an email in confidential mode to McgInnis, which self-deleted in 24 hours.
The government “was forced to correct the record”—to acknowledge Blanck had fabricated evidence and lied under oath.
Defense attorney Cohen writes in her motion, “The government finally admitted that Ayries Blanck fabricated her journals and that she repeatedly lied to the government about the journals’ authenticity.”
More damning, the prosecutors admitted they had relied on those lies to move forward with the prosecution.
What Happens Now?
The government’s March 12 filing raises more questions than answers.
They admit Blanck “committed federal crimes,” violating “18 U.S.C. § 1001″—lying to federal agents, fabricating evidence, and obstructing justice. But the filing does not mention prosecuting her. It does not say whether the government intends to drop the charges against the defendants, even though ASUA Kassner built much of the case on Blanck’s false testimony.
Instead, the government is “resisting” further motions from the defense, arguing that any attempt to challenge the case now is “untimely.”
The defense, in response, has made its position clear: “How can it be untimely to challenge a case built on admitted lies?”
The government planned to put “Blanck on the witness stand,” under oath, before a jury, presenting her words as truth. “Had the defense not exposed the fraud, the trial could have ended in wrongful convictions,” attorney Cohen wrote.
Judge Gujarati is giving prosecutor Kassner until Monday to show why the sealed government document admitting Blanck has lied and FBI Special Agent McGinnis, her likely accomplice, should not be made public.
Judge Diane Gujarati is confronted with a challenge: does she cover for the prosecutors or follow the course of justice?
Gujarati, a prosecutor for 21 years before becoming a judge in 2020, must now decide whether the prosecutors, admitting they fought for months for a fake document, can keep it from the public.
According to sources in Washington DC, the case is under a microscope, which may account for prosecutors’ sudden confession.
Frank report was the first to break this story that Ayries Blanck’s journal’s were fraudulent.
Judge to Prosecutors in OneTaste Case: “Are You Sure These Journals Are Real?”
Journal of Lies: How Ayries Blanck Deceived Netflix and the FBI
JOURNAL GATE! Handwritten Version Mirrors Netflix-Tuned Final Draft in Feds Prosecution of OneTaste
Cry, Lie, Repeat: Journal Gate #3 – Ayries’s ‘Fresh Pain’ Smells Like Reheated Evidence
The End of a Lie: Prosecutors Drop Ayries Blanck’s Journal in OneTaste Case
OneTaste Defendants Seek FBI-Netflix Connection; Purported ‘Victim’s’ Journal Is at Heart of Case
