Actress charged for role in sex cult
Actress Allison Mack, who rose to fame with her role on Vancouverfilmed CW drama Smallville, has been arrested for an alleged role with sex cult Nxivm, according to U.S. federal prosecutors.
Mack is facing charges of sex trafficking and forced labour.
Mack, who was nominated for seven Teen Choice Awards for her role as Chloe Sullivan, cousin to Lois Lane, was reportedly recruited to the Vancouver chapter of the organization by co-star Kristin Kreuk in 2006. Kreuk has since left the group.
Less than a month ago, Nxivm leader Keith Raniere, 57, was arrested on similar charges to Mack in Mexico, where he had been hiding — along with Mack, according to a report in the UK tabloid The Sun — since women began to come forward with information about NXIVM’s activities, which included being physically branded with a surgical tool against their will.
One Vancouver-based actress, Sarah Edmondson, shared her story with The Sun in November of 2017, including the experience of being branded by the group.
“It’s a searing, white pain,” she said. “It’s being burnt. I was being wounded, and humiliated, and I was being filmed.”
The FBI has filed sex trafficking charges against Raniere, saying that with the help of mostly female assistants, he blackmailed and coerced women into unwanted sex. Prosecutors hinted in earlier papers that Mack was one of the co-conspirators. Shortly after Raniere’s arrest, the Vancouver-born Kreuk denied both being part of the group’s inner circle and helping Raniere recruit women.
Prosecutors said in court papers that Raniere created a society within Nxivm called “DOS” — an acronym based on a Latin phrase that loosely translates to “Lord/Master of obedient female companions.” Women were required to provide damaging material about their friends and family, naked photos and even sign over their assets as a condition for joining, they said. Many were branded with his initials, they said.
Prosecutors also said Mack helped recruit women for Raniere and his cultlike organization. She told the women they were joining what was purported to be a female mentorship group, prosecutors said. But “the victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labour,” according to federal prosecutors.
“Mack and other ... masters recruited ... slaves by telling them that they were joining a women-only organization,” U.S. prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said she required women she recruited to engage in sexual activity with Raniere, who paid Mack in return.
Both Mack and Raniere face up to 15 years in prison.