Actress Allison Mack at risk of conviction in NXIVM sex slave case

NEW YORK (AP) – TV actress Allison Mack, who played a key role in scandal-ridden cult group in upstate New York, is due to be sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges to have manipulated women to become sex slaves for the spirituality of the group. chief.

Mack – best known for her role as a close friend of a young Superman in the “Smallville” series – is scheduled to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday. She should take credit for cooperating against NXIVM chief Keith Raniere and taking responsibility for helping him create a secret society of brainwashed women bearing his initials.

Devoting herself to the personal development guru “has been the biggest mistake and the biggest regret of my life,” she wrote in a letter filed with the court last week.

“I’m sorry for those of you that I brought into NXIVM,” she wrote. “I’m sorry to have already exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive ploys of a crooked man.”

Under the Sentencing Advisory Guidelines, Mack could face between 14 and 17.5 years behind bars. His defense team has argued in court documents that probation or a house arrest sentence is more appropriate, and prosecutors agreed that any prison sentence should be less than the guidelines range because of his cooperation.

“The NXIVM saga and the story of Ms. Mack’s descent was a tragedy for everyone involved. But that shouldn’t and shouldn’t be the end of the story for Allison Mack, ”her lawyers wrote in court documents.

Mack, 38, was once part of Raniere’s inner circle, whose group has attracted millionaires and actors to its membership. Prosecutors said she had become a “master” to the “slaves” she ordered “to do the work, take nude photos and, in some cases, engage in sexual acts with him. Raniere “.

As authorities moved closer to Raniere, he fled to Mexico with Mack and others in an attempt to reassemble the group there. He was arrested and sent to the United States in March 2018; Mack was arrested a few days later.

“Ms. Mack now understands that this was the best thing that could have happened to her at that time,” the defense documents say.

Mack provided information to prosecutors on how Raniere encouraged “the use of demeaning and derogatory language, including racial slurs, to humiliate ‘the slaves’,” government newspapers said. More importantly, she provided a recording of a conversation she had with Raniere about the brand, they added.

The branding should involve “a kind of vulnerable position” with “the hands probably above the head held, almost as if they were tied, as sacrificial, whatever,” Raniere told him. Women, he added, “should say, ‘Please mark me. It would be an honor. ‘ Or something like that.”

Raniere was sentenced last year to 120 years in prison for his conviction for sex trafficking.