Summary: Actress Allison Mack was arrested on Friday for luring women into a sex cult.
In the TV show “Smallville,” Allison Mack played the Silver Banshee, a supervillain that was a foe to Superman. Although she was convincing in the role, no one would’ve guessed it was because she had alleged real-life practice in the art of evil.
But on Friday, life proved to be stranger than fiction, and Mack was arrested in connection with her alleged involvement in a New York-based sex cult, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mack, 35, was a member of the self-help group NXIVM, which was led by Keith Raniere. Like a superhero villain, Raniere was known as “Vanguard,” and he allegedly forced his female members to perform sex acts on him, and he and Mack would brand members with their initials.
Earlier this month, Raniere was arrested in Mexico on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy. Mack was arrested on Friday, also for sex trafficking and forced labor.
“As alleged in the indictment, Allison Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere,” United States Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said. “The victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants’ benefit.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Raniere established NXIVM as a self-help group, and he used his celebrity members such as Mack and her costar Kristin Kreuk to lure vulnerable women into joining. Once inside the Albany, New York group, women were turned into slaves, starved so that they could be considered attractive to Raniere, and then used as sexual objects.
“Ms. Mack was one of the top members of a highly organized scheme which was designed to provide sex to [Raniere],” Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza said, according to Page Six. “Under the guise of female empowerment, she starved women until they fit her co-defendant’s sexual feminine ideal.”
Mack allegedly took nude photos of female members in order to use as collateral. According to the U.S. Attorney, Mack started as a sex slave in the group, but she rose up in the ranks and became a leader. She had a sexual relationship with Raniere as well as with another female slave, “Battlestar Galactica” actress Nicki Clyne.
Mack married Clyne, a Canadian, in order to keep her in the country. When Raniere was arrested in Mexico, he was allegedly at a resort with Clyne.
The group started in Albany but expanded into having centers in the United States, Mexico, and South America.
Mack’s rep told THR that they had no comment about her arrest. Earlier this month, Kreuk denounced NXIVM and said that she was never involved in sex trafficking. She said that she had joined the group in her 20s because of its self-help nature but had left years ago.
Page Six said that NXIVM was a “Landmark-style” self-help organization that had attracted thousands of attendees over two decades, including big names such as Richard Branson.