Smallville actress Allison Mack, who recruited women for cult-like group, released early from prison
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American actress Allison Mack was released from a federal prison after serving two years of a three-year sentence.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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NEW YORK – American actress Allison Mack, who recruited women to the cult-like group Nxivm and assisted United States prosecutors in convicting its leader of sex trafficking and other crimes, was released from a federal prison this week after serving two years of a three-year sentence
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that Mack, 40, was released on Monday from a prison in Dublin, California. It was earlier reported by the Albany Times Union newspaper.
At her sentencing in a Brooklyn court in 2021, a federal judge said Mack had used her status as a popular actress to lure women into her orbit to “recruit and groom them as sexual partners” for the group’s leader, Keith Raniere. The judge also called her “an essential accomplice”.
Mack, who was arrested in 2018, pleaded guilty in 2019 to racketeering and conspiracy charges.
While she had faced up to 17 years in prison, she received a shorter sentence after helping prosecutors who were pursuing a case against Raniere by handing over evidence.
Raniere, 62, was sentenced to 120 years in prison
Some women in Nxivm were sexually abused by him, and some were branded with his initials in a secret ceremony.
Mack was best known as an actress for her role in the television series Smallville, which began in 2001 and ran for 10 seasons.
She became involved with Nxivm and Raniere, and quickly became a high-ranking figure within the group, which was based in Albany, New York.
In court in 2019, Mack admitted that she had lured women into a clandestine subgroup within Nxivm by saying they would be part of a female mentorship programme.
Instead, officials said, she had recruited them into the society as “slaves”, and some women were required to have sex with Raniere.
In a 2021 letter addressed to “those who have been harmed by my actions”, Mack said she had experienced shame for the decisions she made.
“I threw myself into the teachings of Keith Raniere with everything I had,” Mack wrote in a statement before her sentencing. “I believed wholeheartedly that this mentorship was leading me to a better, more enlightened version of myself.”
She added: “This was the biggest mistake and regret of my life.” NYTIMES
