Allison Mack, the “Smallville” actress who recruited women for cult-like group Nxivm and assisted prosecutors in convicting its leader of sex trafficking and other crimes, was released from a federal prison this week after serving two years of a three-year sentence for racketeering had and charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Her release on Monday was made public on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. This was previously reported by the Albany Times Union newspaper.
In her 2021 sentencing in a Brooklyn court, a federal judge said Ms Mack used her status as a popular actress to lure women into her orbit to recruit the group’s leader, Keith Raniere, “as sexual partners and to maintain”. called her “an essential accomplice”.
Ms Mack, 40, was arrested in 2018. She pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in 2019. While she faced up to 17 years in prison, she received a shorter sentence after helping prosecutors pursuing a case against Mr Raniere by handing over evidence.
Mr Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020 for sex trafficking and other crimes. Some women in Nxivm were sexually abused by him and some were branded with his initials in a secret ceremony.
Ms. Mack is best known as an actress for her role on the television series Smallville, which began in 2001 and ran for ten seasons. She joined Nxivm and Mr. Raniere and quickly became a high profile figure within the group, which was based in Albany, NY
In court in 2019, Ms Mack admitted she had lured women into a secret sub-group within Nxivm by saying they participated in a women’s mentoring program. Instead, officials said, she recruited them into society as “slaves” and some women were required to have sex with Mr. Raniere.
In a 2021 letter to “those who have been harmed by my actions,” Ms Mack said she felt shame for the choices she made.
“I threw myself into the teachings of Keith Raniere with everything I had,” Ms Mack wrote in a statement ahead of her sentencing. “I had a firm belief that this mentorship would lead me to a better, more enlightened version of myself.”
But she wrote, “That was the biggest mistake and regret of my life.”