‘Smallville’ actress who recruited women for Nxivm is released from prison

Allison Mack, the “Smallville” actress who recruited women for the cult-like group Nxivm and helped prosecutors convict the leader of sex trafficking and other crimes, was released this week from a federal prison after serving two years of a three-year prison term for racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges.

Her release, on Monday, was posted on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. That was previously reported by the Albany Times Union newspaper.

At her 2021 sentencing in a Brooklyn court, a federal judge said Ms. Mack had used her status as a popular actress to lure women into her job to “recruit and groom them as sexual partners” for the group’s leader, Keith Raniere, calling her “an essential accomplice.”

Ms Mack, 40, was arrested in 2018. She pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in 2019. Although she was given up to 17 years in prison, she received a reduced sentence after helping prosecutors push a case against Mr Raniere by turning over evidence.

Mr Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020 for sex trafficking and other crimes. Some women in Nxivm were sexually assaulted by him, and some were branded with his initials in a secret ceremony.

Ms. Mack was best known as an actress for her role in the television series ‘Smallville’ which started in 2001 and ran for 10 seasons. She became involved with Nxivm and Mr. Raniere, quickly becoming a high-ranking figure within the group, which was based in Albany, NY.

In court in 2019, Ms. Mack admitted to luring women into a clandestine sub-group within Nxivm by saying they would be part of a women’s mentorship program. Instead, officials said, she had recruited them into society as “slaves” and forced some of the women to have sex with Mr. Raniere.

In a 2021 letter addressed to “those who have been harmed by my actions”, Ms Mack said she was ashamed of the decisions she made.

“I threw myself into Keith Raniere’s teachings with everything I had,” Ms Mack wrote in a statement before her sentencing. “I honestly believed that this mentorship was leading me to a better, more enlightened version of myself.”

But she wrote, “This was the biggest mistake and regret of my life.”