Smallville actress Allison Mack sentenced for her part in NXIVM sex cult

NXIVM was a misogynistic, mind-control cult disguised as self-help where participants could drastically improve themselves and their lives.  Its adherents referred to its leader, Keith Raniere, as “Vanguard,” and women who joined a secret sorority were branded with a symbol on their pelvic regions containing his initials.

Raniere, following his conviction for sex trafficking and other crimes, was recently sentenced to 120 years in prison.

US actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty to charges linked to this sex-trafficking operation disguised as a mentoring group, and was due to serve a minimum of 15 years, but her team argued her sentence should be reduced based on her cooperation with prosecutors.

Mack, who is best known for her role as Clark Kent’s friend in the television series Smallville, was one of six defendants in a case filed last year against various members.

HBO documentary The Vow revealed jaw-dropping details of the psychological manipulation that Raniere masterminded by encouraging his followers to participate in “master” and “slave” relationships, which Mack was a part of as she helped recruit women to the group for this purpose.

Mack admitted to recruiting women into the society by telling them they were going to become members of a female mentorship group. “I have experienced overwhelming shame as I have worked to accept and understand all that went on and all that I chose,” Mack wrote in a statement.

Mack pleaded guilty in April 2019. Prosecutors asked the judge for leniency given Mack’s cooperation in the case, which included providing a crucial audio recording that documented Raniere’s cruel schemes.
At her sentencing in Brooklyn federal court, Mack renounced the self-improvement guru.

“I made choices I will forever regret,” she said, also telling the judge she was filled with “remorse and guilt.”

“I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM,” she said in a statement prior to sentancing. “I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man. I am sorry that I encouraged you to use your resources to participate in something that was ultimately so ugly.”

“I wish with everything in me that I had chosen differently, but I cannot change the past. I lied to you, again and again, in order to protect the delusion I was so deeply committed to believing.”

She reiterated her apologies to the victims in court on Wednesday: “From the deepest part of my heart and soul, I am sorry.”

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis told her he believed her apology was sincere, but said she deserved a serious sentence for using her celebrity to groom victims as “a willing and proactive ally” and “essential accomplice to Raniere’s monstrous crimes.”

She was given a three-year sentence, and one victim rejected Mack’s apologies, telling the judge the actor deserved no mercy.

“She can blame Keith all she wants but she is a monster cut from the same cloth,” Jessica Joan said in court. “Allison Mack is a predator and an evil human being.”

She [Mack] dehumanised people. She was inhumane,” said India Oxenberg, another victim of Mack’s.

Mack was also ordered to pay $20,000 for her crimes.