Defense Fights Back Against FBI Tactics in Key Court Hearing
On July 3, 2024, Judge Diane Gujarati held a status conference in the US District Court in Brooklyn with attorneys for the government and the defense in the matter of USA v Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz. The defendants are former executives at OneTaste, the company teaching the controversial practice of Orgasmic Meditation.
At the hearing, defense attorneys Jennifer Bonjean and Duncan Levin argued for a dismissal of the indictment, which charged the two women with conspiracy to commit forced labor.
Dismissal Back on the Table
In contrast to this past May, when the defendants’ motion to dismiss was denied, Judge Gujarati put dismissal back on the table.
Levin and Bonjean presented evidence that the lead FBI case agent, Elliot McGinnis, instructed a key witness, Ayries Blanck, to delete her email account containing critical evidence from the case – including proof that she was lying to the FBI.
FBI Misconduct Allegations
The defense also raised the issue that the same FBI agent appeared in a Netflix documentary about the defendants and the company they ran, OneTaste, during the investigation.
The FBI denied this, but the film Orgasm Inc. shows a woman, Audrey Wright, calling the FBI and writing McGinnis’s name on a piece of paper while talking to him about Blanck’s allegations.
From the Netflix film Orgasm Inc, Audrey Wright, a former OneTaste student, is filmed talking to an FBI agent as she writes the name “McGinnis.”
The defense also raised the issue that the government accepted a document marked ‘attorney-client privilege’ for this case from a former employee who stole it through the crime of computer trespass. The government characterized the document as something the employee possessed when he left the company. However, the document was not created umtil 18 months after he left OneTaste employment.
Privileged Document Controversy
The government admitted the document was stolen and privileged and that FBI Agent McGinnis and the former lead prosecutor for the case, Assistant US Attorney Lauren Elbert, had it for 30 months before revealing to the defense that they had it.
When challenged, the US Attorney’s office agreed it was privileged and they would not use it anymore. Former Assistant US Attorney Elbert recently left the US Attorney’s office and was replaced by Assistant US Attorney Kayla Bensing, formerly with the US Attorney’s conviction integrity unit.
Attorneys Bonjean and Levin charged the FBI and the US Attorney used the privileged document to craft the indictment. The US Attorney’s office initially denied they knew it was privileged, despite the document stating at the top of every page, “Attorney-client PRIVILEGED.”
Questionable Evidence Handling
Assistant US Attorney Gillian Kassner advanced the argument that on one of the 20 or so pages of the document, there is a question mark in pencil after the clear marking at the top, “Attorney-client PRIVILEGED,” so the government could not know if it was genuinely privileged.
AUSA Gillian Kassner
The defense said the argument was unpersuasive since the one page with the question mark was deep within the document. The US Attorney is required to surrender any document marked attorney-client privilege immediately to a special unit called a “Taint Team” in the government that must determine if the document is privileged, and if it is, return it at once to the attorney without disclosing the contents to the prosecutors. The penalty for failure to do this includes dismissal of the indictment.
Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege
This strict policy of the US Department of Justice, to protect the sanctity of attorney-client privilege for all Americans as guaranteed in the US Constitution, contradicts AUSA Kassner’s argument that after reading the entire document, she found one page with a scribbled question mark.
Finally, the defendants brought up the FBI’s harsh attempts to find victims for the case, or so-called “victim-hunting.”
Victim-Hunting Allegations
Law360 recently cited one example: Alisha Price, a former OneTaste teacher, alleges in a recently filed lawsuit that FBI Special Agent McGinnis made a surprise visit to her home in Florida a decade after she left OneTaste.
In an exclusive interview with Frank Report, Price said FBI Special Agent McGinnis insisted she was a victim of Daedone. When she said she certainly wasn’t, he became insistent. He said if she continued to insist she was not a victim, he would compel her to testify before a grand jury, traveling at her own expense, from her home in Florida to Brooklyn.
Intimidation Tactics
He then handed the alleged victim Price a subpoena.
Price said McGinnis told her, “If I failed to respond to the subpoena, local authorities would come to my door, arrest me, and then I would be taken to New York under arrest to be questioned.”
Despite the allegedly coercive efforts of McGinnis to persuade her to testify as a victim, which Price said included intimidating her into speaking with two FBI victim specialists, she continued to deny she was a victim.
Personal Impact
Price said she felt compelled to hire an attorney to help her explain how she was not a victim.
“The stress and trauma from the interactions with federal agents insisting I was a victim had a significant impact on my overall mental and emotional states,” Price told Frank Report. “It impacted my relationship with friends and family and ultimately resulted in termination from my employment as a master stylist at a Florida salon.”
Price said, though she was terrified by the FBI, she refused to lie and claim she was a victim of Daedone, and the pressure from the FBI was “intense.”
Allegations Against Neil Glazer
Neil Glazer, the attorney who worked closely with the EDNY in the NXIVM case and later launched a federal civil lawsuit with some 70 plaintiffs against NXIVM leaders, is under fire by one of his former clients relating to the OneTaste case.
Price also alleged the attorney she retained to represent her, Neil Glazer from Kohn Swift, was working with the US Attorney to coerce her into becoming a victim so that he could ultimately represent her in a civil lawsuit after she helped the government convict Daedone.
Price told Frank Report she filed a civil lawsuit against Glazer and his firm, Kohn Swift, and planned to file a grievance complaint against Glazer with the New York and Pennsylvania Bar Associations.
Motion to Dismiss Scheduled
US District Court Judge Diane Gujarati is taking the issues raised very seriously.
At last week’s status conference, the combination of allegedly improper conduct was sufficient for Judge Gujarati to set a motion schedule to review these issues and consider a motion to dismiss.
Judge Gujarati instructed the defense to file a 25-page brief by July 17 and the US Attorney to respond by July 31. The defense can make a final reply on August 14, after which Judge Gujarati will determine whether an evidentiary hearing is required and schedule one where witnesses, such as FBI Special Agent McGinnis and others, may be called to give testimony.
Media Attention
Defendants Nicole Daedone (l) and Rachel Cherwitz (r) and Cherwitz’s attorney Duncan Levin head to court to allege serious FBI misconduct.
Sensing this is a burgeoning scandal of FBI misconduct, major media representatives attended the July 3 hearing.
Afterward, at a press conference outside the Brooklyn courthouse, Cherwitz’s attorney, Duncan Levin, told reporters what he believed was the actual reason behind the case.
Referring to Daedone’s teachings that their sexuality can empower women instead of being suppressed, Levin said, “The government is trying to criminalize sex.”
Read more:
3. https://www.law360.com/articles/1855771/ex-onetaste-staffer-says-atty-forced-her-to-play-the-victim
