Fabricated Evidence
"A wrongful conviction is a life sentence for not only the innocent man but for justice itself. When evidence is manipulated, fabricated, or inferred to fit a preconceived narrative, the scales of justice become a weapon instead of a balance. The innocent suffer while the guilty walk free, and the credibility of the system erodes. Truth becomes a casualty, and justice becomes a shadow of its ideal."
— "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham
What emerges here is not an impartial investigation or a pursuit of justice, but a tangled narrative jointly shaped by Netflix, Bloomberg, and government actors. Their collaboration not only muddies the waters of the OneTaste case but also highlights the troubling intersections of media sensationalism and legal proceedings. When journalistic integrity and judicial processes are compromised for the sake of drama, the ability to parse truth from fabrication becomes almost impossible, leaving audiences—and the accused—at the mercy of a story crafted to entertain rather than inform.
The OneTaste saga, as presented, underscores the dangers of using media fabrications to bolster legal cases. It calls into question the ethical responsibilities of journalists, filmmakers, and government agencies, whose roles should be rooted in uncovering the truth, not constructing it for dramatic effect.
A key piece of evidence that lies at the center of the Netflix film Orgasm Inc. and the government’s case, are supposedly contemporaneous journals written by Ayries Blanck as she left OneTaste in 2015. Ayries sister Autymn who appears in the film was paid $25,000 for the journals. “Ayries claims she began a journal detailing her anguish of being in a cult, portraying herself as a victim after leaving OneTaste. While the journal is dated from January 2015, written as though fresh off her raw pain, it was never disclosed publicly until 2022.” Frank Report
Daedone’s lead defense Attorney Jennifer Bonjean wrote in a recent motion , “The journal entries were fishy for three reasons: (1) the writing style had a distinctive cinematic quality; (2) counsel had never mentioned this compelling evidence when negotiating a settlement agreement with OneTaste in 2015; and (3) the existence of these journals was suspiciously convenient, since it allowed story to be included in the Netflix film without her technically violating her settlement agreement with OneTaste, which included a non-disparagement clause. Recent 3500 disclosures in the ongoing criminal case reveal that [Blanck] never mentioned the existence of these journals in her lengthy interviews with agent McGinnis in 2018 and only told McGinnis about the journals in June 2022 (around the time they were being prepared for Netflix).” Not to mention that the journals supposedly written in 2015, reference the Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook, a book first published on December 3, 2019. Four years, nine months, and eleven days after the journal was supposedly authored.
The Motion
Read the most recent court filing. Click here.
Dr. Robert Leonard has served as an expert for the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, DOJ, JTTF, British intelligence agencies, and the Prime Minister of Canada. He serves as Senior Consultant to the IARPA Linguistic Fingerprint Project of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and has qualified as expert witness in 15 States and 11 Federal Districts.
Dr. Leonard was retained to conduct forensic analysis on the journals that were read aloud in the Netflix “True Crime” film, Orgasm Inc.: The Story of OneTaste and produced in civil discovery, against a large volume of known original writings of Blanck from an online social network.
The following represents quotes attributable to Dr. Leopard taken from interviews as well as his 123-page analysis of the journals by comparing known original writings of Blanck from an online social network and comparing those writings to the journal writing:
MEMO ON DR. ROBERT LEONARD
FORENSIC LINGUIST ANALYSIS
Dr. Leonard’s summary statements:
“We have this alleged journal from the Netflix movie that is said to have been written by someone. Then we have all the original writings of who it was said to be written by. The patterns absolutely don’t match.
Dr. Leonard’s summary statements:
“In other cases I have worked on that have been successful, there were far fewer differences in writing features. The differences in features here are simply overwhelming.”
Dr. Leonard’s summary statements:
“If Netflix had come to me and said these writings are purported to have been written by Ayries and asked me what does the evidence suggest, I would have told them to be very careful.”
Dr. Leonard’s summary statements:
“The journals were written by a very skilled writer.”
Dr. Leonard’s summary statements:
“A writing “feature” is a scientific term used by forensic linguistics to represent a particular style of language use. Any particular individual’s style of writing can be categorized by the collection of “features” used by that author. The science of forensic linguist analysis involves identifying repeated “features” of one writing sample, and comparing the features in another writing sample, as a method for evaluating consistent authorship. Strong similarities in writing “features” between two writing samples indicate the same author, while strong differences or a high number of differences in “features” between two writing samples indicates different authors.”
Example feature differences between Ayries' authentic writing and the "journals":
One linguistic feature that stands out as clearly differentiating the Q Journal from K Ayries (her authenticated writings) is the idiosyncratic contraction “I’de”.
Ayries (original writings) uses “I’de” or “ide” for the contracted form of “I would”.
The Q Journal only has the standard contracted form “I’d” – never that particular variation of “Ide”/”i’de”.
Some examples are:
“I’de take a good hard look at what you are supporting in this world”
“I’de be seen as a compassionate loving person because I meditate”
“and ide say society at large.”
“This is something that any lay person can see as idiosyncratic, and regular. So, why doesn’t the Q have it? Maybe because it was written by someone else, or, perhaps edited/rewritten by someone else.”
Lead FBI Case Agent Elliot Mcginnis Advises Party To Hide Key Evidence
September 2024 OneTaste held deposition of Autymn Blanck, sister of Ayries Blanck, through the OneTaste vs. Black civil complaint. Autymn Blanck stated in deposition (p 13-14) that she told McGinnis she possessed physical handwritten copies of Ayries’ “journals” (the same journals read in “Orgasm Inc”), and that she would have to send these to OneTaste as part of a subpoena. She states that McGinnis advised her to send the journals to him via Fedex overnight, telling her “you don’t have to send them what you don’t have.” This evidence was produced to LA Superior Court Judge Rupert Byrdsong, who ordered the FBI to return the physical journals to Autymn to then be produced to OneTaste.
Judge Rupert Byrdsong
Ed McPherson, counsel for OneTaste in its civil lawsuit against Blanck, states in court: “There are six to eight handwritten journals. From that, Ms. Autymn Blanck took one of them..transcribed certain portions of it and types it up in a google drive that her sister gets to edit, that she gets to edit, and that netflix gets to edit, and they did edit, and she turns that in to Netflix… so the FBI can't give her back those journals?”
Judge Rupert Byrdsong replied: Does somebody have any authority that says the FBI can hold onto evidence in my case? I would imagine that when I denied the request for stay, that I'm entitled to get my discovery in my case…if the FBI is going to tell her that they are not going to give her a copy of her own documents, then I'm going to have to need to see that in writing with some type of order and/or some authority that says they can do that. But I'm ordering them to be turned over forthwith.
Judge Orders FBI to Return Evidence After Gov’t Witness
Testifies that FBI Told Her to Hide Evdience
Honorable Rupert A. Byrdsong, Presiding Judge Reporter’s Transcript(S) - August 26, 2024
Judge Byrdsong Suggests That Following His Denial Of Edny Prosecutor’s Stay Of The Civil Case That The Fbi Cannot Withhold Evidence
Order To The Federal Bureau Of Investigations To Provide Handwritten Journals And Hard Drive To Autymn Blanck – August 28, 202
Key Government Witness Tells Court
She Deleted 10 Years Of Evidence
At Instruction Of FBI Agent
In 2022, with the Government’s trafficking investigation into OneTaste gaining steam, multiple individuals once associated with OneTaste sent threatening and harassing communications to Ms. Blanck, urging her inter alia not to cooperate with investigators. See, e.g., E-mail from L. West, Oct. 27, 2022, BLANCK_0000026, Exhibit D3 (“The FBI is too far. . . . We need to clean this up.”); E-mail from S. Engman, Oct. 29, 2022, BLANCK_0000039, Exhibit D4 (“[OneTaste is] going to have to share a lot of information that I promise you… you do not want coming out.”). In November 2022, Ms. Blanck reported the harassing outreach to the FBI, which, in response, stated: “Based on their statements in the emails they are still associated with OneTaste . . . .” The FBI further advised Ms. Blanck to “cancel” the e-mail account, noting that the e-mails from OneTaste associates were designed to make her “feel uneasy.” See E-mails with Agent E. McGinnis, Nov. 7-9, 2022, Exhibit D5. Ms. Blanck, unrepresented at that time, followed the FBI’s guidance. She did not act in bad faith or commit discovery misconduct.
