Actress Allison Mack, best known for her recurring role in the show Smallville, has been sentenced to three years in prison for her involvement in the NXIVM cult— the multilevel marketing company that sex trafficked women under the guise of providing ‘personal and professional development.’ The actress is also responsible for paying a $20,000 fine as well.
Mack allegedly became involved in the NXIVM organization back in 2010 and quickly rose through the ranks of the organization. She recruited new members and took barking orders from Keith Raniere, the organization’s founder, and leader. NXIVM marketed itself through life-coaching seminars and offered members power and wealth if they remained in the organization. Mack was one of the main recruiters and used her celebrity status, which gave the organization credibility, to lure and manipulate victims into the cult with the promise of self-improvement, self-actuation, and self-realization. She abused her role as a celebrity and made victims trust her and feel comfortable giving themselves to the group.
Unfortunately, NXIVM wasn’t exactly the personal and professional development tool that it marketed itself as. Underneath the organization’s shiny facade dark, uncomfortable secrets lurked—the DOS, Dominus Obsequious Sororium, a secret society within the organization in which women were branded and forced into sexual slavery. Keith Raniere and Allison Mack manipulated the women into having sex with him. One victim testified that Mack told her she needed to seduce Raniere in order to heal her trauma from previous sexual abuse. Another testified Mack had orchestrated abusive sexual encounters between herself and Raniere. The victims were forced to stay in the group due to an intricate system of ‘collateral.’ One victim had to provide a sex tape of herself and a letter falsely accusing her father of sexual abuse for admission. Victims were constantly threatened with exposure if they were ever non-compliant.
At first Allison Mack was uncooperative with authorities, but she has since changed her tune and apologized for her role and publicly denounced Raniere. In a letter that she wrote to the court prior to her sentencing, Mack described her involvement in NXIVM, “’I threw myself into the teachings of Keith Raniere with everything I had,” she lamented. “I believed, whole-heartedly, that his mentorship was leading me to a better, more enlightened version of myself. I devoted my loyalty, my resources, and, ultimately, my life to him. This was the biggest mistake and regret of my life.’” Mack also provided substantial evidence to help convict Raniere, including a disturbing audiotape between her and Raniere in which they discuss branding victims. Raniere was convicted and sentenced to 120 years in 2019.
Allison Mack is not the only celebrity that has ended up in hot water due to the cult. NXIVM’s allure attracted other high-profile socialites and celebrities many of which funded the operation. Back in 2020, Clare Bronfman, an heir to the Seagram’s liquor fortune, was sentenced to over 6 years in prison for allegedly giving the organization over $150 million during her fifteen years in the group. The cult also attracted the Princess of Yugoslavia’s Granddaughter, India Oxenberg. India was one the many victims of of Reinere’s sexually abuse and was also branded during her time in DOS.
Allison Mack’s sentence, will finally give Raniere’s victims the space to breathe and a sigh of relief so they begin their healing process out of the spotlight and away from the public eye. The justice system showed Mack that power and celebrity is not going to be the ‘get of jail free card’ that she was hoping for. Mack will begin serving her sentence this September.
