Allison Mack Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison For Involvement In Nxivm Sex Cult

Allison Mack, the former Smallville actress and member of cult group Nxim, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday. Additionally, she is required to have three years of supervised release after serving her sentence and has to pay a $20,000 fine.

Nxivm was a company located in Albany, New York, that offered “self-help” classes. Prosecutors said that there was also a secretive female-only group that compelled women into sharing risky information and nude photos, to the group’s leader regularly. Women were also branded with Mack and group leader Keith Raniere‘s initials in their pelvic region.

Mack wrote a letter that was filed on Friday apologizing to the people she harmed.

“I am sorry to those of you that I brought into Nxivm,” she wrote. “I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man.”

Mack and several Nxim leaders, including Raniere, were arrested in 2018. Raniere was convicted of racketeering charges and sentenced to 120 years in prison last year.

Sentencing guidelines said Mack should do 14-17.5 years in prison. Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis to give her below the recommended years because she gave the government “substantial assistance” in the investigation and prosecution of others. Mack’s attorneys suggested she receive no prison time.

Garaufis said Mack is “an essential accomplice” and a “willing and proactive ally” of Raniere’s.

“I don’t doubt that you were manipulated and also felt captive,” he added.

Garaufis said he accepted the prosecutor’s request for a shorter sentence but still thought jail time was necessary because of the seriousness of the crime.

The sub-group was known as DOS; it involved women who were known as “first-line masters.” According to testimony, their job was to report directly to Raniere and recruit other women as their slaves.

Many women were unaware that Raniere was the head of the group; they were told to have sex with him and send him nude pictures.

For the past three years, Mack has been under house arrest. Her attorneys claimed that in those three years, she has gotten her associate degree at a community college in California, enrolled at UC Berkely to get a bachelor’s degree and worked in catering.

Prosecutors said during their sentencing memo that one week before she pleaded guilty, Mack cooperated with the government and shared detailed information about crimes committed and evidence.

A piece of evidence Mack shared was a recording of a conversation between her and Raniere; the two were discussing a “branding ceremony.”

“The person should ask to be branded,” Raniere said in the audio  “And they should probably say that before they’re held down, so it doesn’t seem like they are being coerced.”

Prosecutors said that without Mack’s cooperation, they would not have been able to present the audio recording of Raniere and Mack’s conversation, in which they discussed the design of the brand, which involved women being held down before being branded in their pelvic area with the initials KR and AM.