Michael Gold and Colin Moynihan

Led by Keith Raniere, the group, based in Albany, N.Y., billed itself as a self-help organization. It offered workshops and classes that promised participants greater self-fulfillment.

Mack became so involved, federal prosecutors said, that she began recruiting other women into a secret sect within Nxivm in which women were branded with Raniere’s initials and were forced to have sex with him.

“I was lost,” Mack said Monday, while pleading guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges related to her role in the group.

In a lengthy, tear-filled confession at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Mack admitted to luring women into Nxivm (pronounced NEX-ee-um), where they were extorted and coerced into following Raniere’s orders.

“I must take full responsibility for my conduct,” Mack, 36, said.

The racketeering counts were among the least lurid ones that Mack faced. When the actress was arrested last year, she was also charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and forced labor.

Her arrest was part of a larger federal case against high-ranking members of Nxivm, including Raniere and four others. Federal authorities had begun investigating the organization after The New York Times published an article in late 2017 detailing the inner workings of the secret sorority within Nxivm.

Mack’s Hollywood ties boosted the case’s profile and grabbed headlines. After prosecutors announced the charges against her, other actresses said that Mack had tried to get them to join her “women’s group.” Several female journalists also shared that they had received emails from Mack trying to pitch them on joining a female empowerment organization.

Prosecutors said the secret sect’s purpose within Nxivm was to groom sexual partners for Raniere, who is 58. It was called DOS, an acronym for a Latin phrase that roughly translates to “Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions,” court papers said.

In court Monday, Mack admitted she recruited women into the group by telling them they were going to become members of a female mentorship program.

Her goal, she said, was to promote Raniere’s teachings and help him further his objectives. She was so dedicated to doing so, she said, that she engaged in criminal conduct.

Mack said that to become members of the secret DOS group, women were required to offer up “personally damaging or ruinous” information. The group also collected explicit photos and videos from members as well as rights to their properties, she said.

Prosecutors have said that the women were warned that the damaging or embarrassing information would be made public if they revealed the existence of the group.

Mack admitted Monday that she wielded the information to blackmail the women into performing services for her and the group. The organization was set up to make women think “they could suffer serious harm” if they did not follow orders, she said.

The DOS group was organized into circles of women “slaves” that were led by “masters,” prosecutors said. When Mack was arrested last year, officials said that she had recruited women into the society as “slaves” and had required them to have sex with Raniere.

But in her plea before the court, Mack did not directly address whether women were coerced into having sex with the group’s leader. She did admit that she had obtained “labor and services” from two anonymous women who were mentioned in the indictment.

Mack sobbed so much as she gave her statement that Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis interrupted to ask if she was all right. Mack then apologized to those that she hurt through her “misguided adherence to Keith Raniere’s teachings.”

Mack’s biography on her website, which was no longer active Monday but could still be accessed in archives, mentioned that Raniere had mentored her after “Smallville” ended in 2011.

As she spent more time with the group and with Raniere, she said in court, she was persuaded into believing Raniere’s messages would be beneficial to others.

But almost a year after her arrest, Mack said that she had concluded through introspection and “self-examination” that Raniere and some of his followers had broken the law.

Last month, one of the group’s co-founders, Nancy Salzman, shared the same sentiment when she pleaded guilty to charges in the case. Two weeks later, her daughter, Lauren Salzman, also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and racketeering counts.

Others charged in the case include Raniere and Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune.

Mack faces up to 20 years in prison on each count to which she pleaded guilty. She is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

It was unclear whether Mack will be entering into a cooperation deal with federal prosecutors. Her lawyer declined to comment outside the courthouse and did not respond to phone or email requests.

The trial of the remaining defendants in the case is scheduled to begin later this month.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/nyregion/alison-mack-nxivm.html" id="d69c17a4-7461-3544-acfc-ca934bf384ad">The New York Times</a>.

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' Pleads Guilty in Case of 'Sex Cult' Where Women Were Branded

NEW YORK — Allison Mack tearfully told a judge Monday that she first joined the cultlike group known as Nxivm to “find purpose.” She was unsatisfied with her acting career, she said, despite her role on the successful television series “Smallville.”

“I must take full responsibility for my conduct,” Mack said, sobbing while giving a lengthy statement at the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

Mack, who is best known for her role as Clark Kent’s friend in the television series “Smallville,” was one of six defendants in a federal racketeering indictment filed last year against members of Nxivm.

Some women in the organization, which was based near Albany, were part of a secret society in which they were branded with the initials of Nxivm’s former leader, Keith Raniere, and forced to have sex with him, federal prosecutors have said.

In her statement Monday, Mack admitted to recruiting women into the society by telling them they were going to become members of a female mentorship group.

Her goal, she said in court, was to promote Raniere’s teachings and help him further his objectives. To do so, she said, she engaged in criminal conduct.

As a condition for membership in Nxivm’s secret sorority, women were required to offer up “personally damaging or ruinous” secrets, Mack said. The group also collected explicit photos and videos from members as well as rights to their properties, she said.

Prosecutors have said that the women who joined Nxivm’s secret sorority were warned that the damaging or embarrassing information they volunteered would be made public if they revealed the existence of the society.

The sect was arranged into circles of women “slaves” that were led by “masters,” prosecutors said. When Mack was arrested last year, officials said that she recruited women into the society as “slaves” and required them to have sex with Raniere.

In court Monday, Mack admitted that she had obtained “labor and services” from the two women mentioned in the indictment.

Before Monday’s hearing, Mack had previously pleaded not guilty to charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and forced labor. She had been released on $5 million bail.

The actress, the indictment said, was part of Raniere’s “inner circle.”

Mack, 36, told the court that she first joined Nxivm, which long billed itself as a self-help organization, because she was seeking a sense of purpose.

Mack’s biography on her website, which was no longer active Monday but was still accessible in archives, said that after “Smallville” ended, Raniere had mentored her in her study of acting.

She said in court that as she spent more time with the group and with Raniere, she became persuaded Nxivm and its messages would be beneficial to others.

But almost a year after her arrest, Mack said Monday that she had concluded through introspection and “self-examination” that Nxivm’s leader and some of his followers had broken the law.

Last month, one of the group’s co-founders, Nancy Salzman, pleaded guilty to charges in the case. Two weeks later, her daughter, Lauren Salzman, also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and racketeering counts.

Mack, who wept as she gave her statement and had to pause to compose herself, apologized to victims of Nxivm’s scheme.

Each count to which she pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

NEW YORK — Allison Mack, an actress and one of the most high-profile members of the cultlike group Nxivm, pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges.

Mack, who appeared Monday at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, in Brooklyn, previously pleaded not guilty on charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and forced labor. She had been released on $5 million bail.

Some women in the organization, which was based near Albany, were branded with the initials of Nxivm’s former leader, Keith Raniere, and forced to have sex with him, federal prosecutors have said.

Federal prosecutors have said that Mack helped recruit women into Nxivm (pronounced Nex-ee-um), telling them they were going to become members in a female mentorship group.

The actress, the indictment said, was part of Raniere’s “inner circle” and was also one of the leaders in a secret sorority within Nxivm that exploited its members.

As part of her role in the group, Mack worked with Raniere in the sex trafficking and forced labor of one woman and the attempted sex tracking of another, according to the indictment.

NEW YORK — Allison Mack, an actress who was among the most high-profile members of the cultlike group Nxivm, pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges Monday.

This article originally appeared in <a id="d69c17a4-7461-3544-acfc-ca934bf384ad" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/nyregion/alison-mack-nxivm.html">The New York Times</a>.

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' pleads guilty in case of 'sex cult' where women were branded

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Michael Gold and Colin Moynihan

Articles written by the author

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' Pleads Guilty in Case of 'Sex Cult' Where Women Were Branded

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' Pleads Guilty in Case of 'Sex Cult' Where Women Were Branded

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' Pleads Guilty in Case of 'Sex Cult' Where Women Were Branded

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' Pleads Guilty in Case of 'Sex Cult' Where Women Were Branded

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' pleads guilty in case of 'sex cult' where women were branded

Allison Mack of 'Smallville' pleads guilty in case of 'sex cult' where women were branded