Alex Arger
How Cults Work
Some cults are religious. Others are political, polygamist or apocalyptic, like Q-anon.
LEARN MOREPosted: 5:25 p.m. EDT Jul 5, 2023
Actress Allison Mack, best known for her role in "Smallville," was released early from a California prison Monday after serving two years, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed.
She was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2021 after pleading guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges two years earlier.
Mack's charges were related to her involvement with the cult-like group NXIVM. The company began in 1998 as a "self-help" company, but prosecutors say it became a sex trafficking organization. They say Mack helped recruit and manipulate women into becoming sex slaves for its leader, Keith Raniere. The women were also allegedly branded with Raniere's initials in their pelvic area.
Mack, who was part of Raniere's inner circle of deputies, has admitted she lied to women to get them to join NXIVM, telling them it was a "female mentorship group." Then she and other group leaders blackmailed the women with explicit photos and other information to silence them.
The actress avoided a longer sentence, possibly as much as 17 years, by cooperating with authorities and providing further information about Raniere and the group, including a recorded conversation with him about the branding.
Raniere was convicted on sex trafficking charges and sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020.
