Jury's out in Brooklyn sex cult trial
It's been a long month in BK federal court.
For the past four weeks, I’ve sat in a federal courtroom as witnesses described being manipulated into menial and sexual labor while working at OneTaste, a Bay Area company founded in 2004 by a woman named Nicole Daedone.
She and her former head of sales, Rachel Cherwitz, face a count each of forced labor conspiracy, accused of indoctrinating young women — specifically targeting those with traumatic pasts — into what multiple witnesses described as a “sex cult.”
Supporters of Daedone and Cherwitz packed the courtroom during closing arguments this week, making for a very tight squeeze across its wooden benches, and some more-agitated-than-usual court security staff.
Jurors took the case around 11 a.m. on Friday, and will resume deliberations next week for what’ll be an interesting verdict no matter which way they land.
While in other sex rings prosecuted in Brooklyn federal court, leaders were accused of physical abuse and blackmail (singer R. Kelly had victims write letters falsely admitting to crimes, while NXIVM sex cult leaders collected explicit photos as “collateral”) no such force was described regarding OneTaste leaders.
Instead, the jury will have to decide if the systematic manipulation or “brainwashing” witnesses described — accomplished by their belief that if they spoke up, they’d lose their sole source of community, purpose and professional development — is enough to garner a criminal conviction.
I’ll keep you posted.
P.S. Check out Courthouse News reporter Erik Uebelacker on NewsNation, talking about the Luigi Mangione trial:
Much more Courthouse News next.
Here’s what else happened in court this week:
Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s relentless and legally scrutinized mass deportations, sued interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba (Trump’s former personal attorney) over his May arrest at an immigration holding facility. [Erik Uebelacker]
Guns: SCOTUS said Mexico can’t sue U.S. gunmakers whose weapons end up in the hands of cartels, and a federal judge upheld Colorado’s ban on firearm purchases by people under 21. [Kelsey Reichmann, Steve Garrison]
Sanctions: The Trump administration imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accusing them of “transgressions” by approving cases against the U.S. and Israel. [Cain Burdeau]
TSA: The Trump administration can’t, for now, strip collective bargaining rights from airport security workers. [Jeremy Yurow]
Kids: Florida’s social media ban for minors is on ice. [Alex Pickett]
UC Davis: The UC Davis stabbing suspect testified in his own defense. [Alan Riquelmy]
Diddy: At Sean Combs’ trial, a hotel security offer said Diddy paid him $100K cash for a surveillance video of him beating up his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. [Josh Russell]
Reddit v AI: Reddit sued Anthropic, an AI startup, for scraping data from user posts to train its assistant, Claude. [Matt Simons]
Top 8: What you’ve been reading
Rapper Lil Durk seeks pretrial release in murder-for-hire prosecution
ACLU urges 2nd Circuit to rethink no-warrant cell phone searches at US border
Ninth Circuit bars Christian-owned Korean spa from excluding trans women
North Carolina city accused of discharging cancer-causing chemicals into drinking water
New York judge allows Trump to sue his own niece while in office
Italy tightens citizenship rules, cutting off millions of descendants in Brazil
Wife of ‘Ghost Adventures’ star pleads guilty to plotting husband’s murder
19th-century Supreme Court case takes center stage in birthright citizenship appeal
Starbucks can’t dodge a $50M verdict after spilled tea scalded a Postmates driver’s penis. [Hillel Aron]
Rulings on our radar 📡
» District of Puerto Rico: A group of nonbinary Puerto Ricans won a challenge to the commonwealth’s birth certificate policy.
» District of Colorado: The court knocked down a jury’s award from $55 million to $9 million for a woman whose defective slow-cooker caused second- and third-degree burns on 13% of her body.
» Middle District of Louisiana: The court declined to grant summary judgment to an intermediary broker of a load hauled by a trucker who drove into a stationary horse trailer, killing four thoroughbred horses inside.