NXIVM sex cult top official Allison Mack will be sentenced today after pleading guilty to racketeering.- Mack helped NXIVM leader Keith Raniere lure women to his secret sex-slave group, DOS.
- She orchestrated branding ceremonies, restricted women's diets, and collected compromising photos.
Former "Smallville" actress Allison Mack was sentenced to 3 years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to racketeering related to her involvement in the Albany, New York-based sex cult NXIVM.
In 2019, Mack faced charges of sex trafficking, identity fraud, and money laundering, Insider previously reported.
During the hearing, Mack said she was guilty of racketeering, or running an illegal business, and conspiracy to commit racketeering. The former actress also revealed she had obtained compromising photos of two women and threatened to release them publicly if they refused to perform "so-called acts of love."
She faces up to 17 years in prison, the Daily Mail reported.
Mack was a top official in NXIVM, the upstate New York sex cult that made national headlines for its psychology-based brainwashing tactics, branding ceremonies, and sex slave grooming under the leadership of Keith Raniere.
Mack is the latest NXIVM high-ranking official to be sentenced, following Raniere, who was sentenced to life in prison, and Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman, who was sentenced to more than six years.
The 'Smallville' actress moved to NXIVM headquarters in 2011
Mack's history with NXIVM dates back to 2006, when she attended her first meeting in Los Angeles.
Raniere, who started as a top salesperson for upstate New York multi-level marketing company Consumer's Buyline before starting his own company, created expensive self-help seminars that attracted Hollywood-based actors and other creatives.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mack learned of NXIVM through her "Smallville" co-star Kristin Kreuk and started attending seminars regularly.
Mack moved to Albany, New York in 2011, after her work on "Smallville" ended. There, Raniere recruited her to become a figurehead of the organization. She starred in video promotions, led courses, and recruited new members, according to HBO's documentary series about the group, "The Vow."
Mack restricted women's food intake, threatened to embarrass them, and orchestrated branding ceremonies
Raniere also put Mack in charge of running DOS, or Dominus Obsequious Sororium, a latin phrase that translates to "Master over slave women."
DOS was a secret women-only sector of NXIVM that only select members knew about, Insider previously reported.
She worked with other top NXIVM officials, including Nancy Salzman and her daughter Lauren Salzman to recruit women to DOS. Then, Mack groomed them to become Raniere's sex slaves, Insider previously reported.
Part of the grooming process involved Mack and other sex-slave "masters" enforcing strict diets. According to former sex slave and NXIVM member India Oxenberg, Mack and Raniere said diet restrictions were a sign of self-improvement and restricted her to between 500 and 900 calories each day.
Mack also organized secret branding ceremonies for new DOS members, which involved NXIVM member and former physician Danielle Roberts using a cauterizing pen to write Raniere's initials in each woman's flesh near their bikini lines.
Under Raniere's instruction, Mack collected nude photos and compromising personal information from women she recruited into DOS, which she later used to prevent them from leaving by threatening to release the information.
Mack was arrested in 2018 while in Mexico with Raniere
In 2018, Raniere, Mack, and NXIVM member Nikki Clyne were arrested in Mexico after fleeing the US amidst an investigation into the cult. She was placed on house arrest for a year.
At her 2019 hearing, Mack apologized to the people she recruited into NXIVM and said Raniere had brainwashed her.
"I threw myself into the teachings of Keith Raniere with everything I had. 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," Mack wrote in her statement to a federal judge in Brooklyn.
"This was the biggest mistake and greatest regret of my life."