Alleged cult members indicted

It was a strange reunion Wednesday for members of an alleged sex cult who were indicted in Brooklyn Federal Court on a variety of trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Federal authorities said they pulled back the curtain on self-help organization NXIVM and revealed a cult rife with female slaves amassed and literally branded for the sexual pleasure of its perverse leader.

Alleged cult captain Keith Raniere faces several charges, including sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud.

Also indicted were Raniere's alleged lieutenant, “Smallville” actress Allison Mack, and the cult's reported owner Nancy Salzman, along with Salzman's daughter, Lauren, billionaire heiress Clare Bronfman and Kathy Russell.

All six defendants pleaded not guilty.

Court papers also revealed that Raniere and Lauren allegedly locked a woman in a room for two years because she was affectionate with a man who was not her “master.” The victim was confined to a room in Clifton Park, N.Y., for nearly two years to punish her for having romantic feelings for someone other than Raniere.

“Dynasty” actress Katherine Oxenberg, whose daughter, India, was allegedly a victim of the sex cult, said the indictments came as a huge relief.

“A lot of people's lives have been ruined — there's a lot of collateral damage — and why this case is unprecedented, in my opinion, is because it's the first time someone like Keith Raniere has been arrested before a Jonestown incident,” she said. “I think it's going to be a very, very important landmark case.”

Oxenberg was making reference to a cult in Guyana where more than 900 people under the leadership of Jim Jones died in 1978 from cyanide poisoning.