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In July, 2021 Allison Mack was sentenced to three years in federal prison for her leadership position in the NXIVM cult, which included acting as lead recruiter for the cult’s exclusive master-slave sorority, D.O.S. Thanks to brave ex-members speaking on the record, documentaries like HBO’s The Vow and Starz’s Seduced exposed D.O.S. as a group of women who were groomed to be sexually abused by NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. These women were coerced into filming future-blackmail material on themselves which was handed over as collateral, and they were branded. Mack pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors by handing over evidence against Raniere and displaying “remorse” in court, which was why she got off with the shamefully low sentence of three years. On Monday she was released after only serving two of the three years:
The television actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty for her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult-like group NXIVM, has been released from a California prison, according to a government website.
Mack, best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on “Smallville,” was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2021 after pleading guilty two years earlier to charges that she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere.
Online records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Mack, 40, was released Monday from a federal prison in Dublin, California, near San Francisco. Her release was first reported by the Albany Times-Union.
Mack avoided a longer prison term by cooperating with federal authorities in their case against Raniere, who was ultimately sentenced to 120 years in prison after being convicted on sex-trafficking charges.
Mack helped prosecutors mount evidence showing how Raniere created a secret society that included brainwashed women who were branded with his initials and forced to have sex with him.
In addition to Mack, members of the group included an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune, Clare Bronfman; and a daughter of TV star Catherine Oxenberg of “Dynasty” fame.
Mack would later repudiate Raniere and express “remorse and guilt” before her sentencing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
This is despicable. Yes, Keith Raniere got a hefty sentence to serve 120 years in federal prison (the rest of his life) and to pay $3.46 million in restitution (arguably a low figure). But the NXIVM women who held prominent positions have walked away with paltry sentences–just under seven years for Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman who funded the cult, and 3.5 years for co-founder Nancy Salzman–and now Allison Mack has been released a whole year early. Mack was running D.O.S. right up there with Raniere. Their initials are branded onto women’s bodies–including one who was 15 at the time. All Mack served was two years. I’m angry, are you?
One last note: I find it beyond distasteful that media like HuffPost above, and even The New York Times, are still referring to NXIVM as a “cult-like” group. NXIVM is a cult, full-stop. Labeling it as anything less is a slap in the face to the victims.
She did helped the Prosecutor with evidence.
Be that as it may, Mack was instrumental in supporting, facilitating and procuring victims, many that were minors, for Raniere!! Mack was instrumental in the sex trafficking ring, exploitation, sexual assault along with blackmail too. Mack did nothing to protect nor prevent the cult from expanding this vile machinations, she was perpetuating in it!!
Why are the getaway drivers for a bank robbery held at the same and/or slightly lesser level of prosecution as the robbers themselves? They were ALL complicit!!
her assistance on the case is why she received a very light sentence of 3 years. The light sentence for such grievous crimes was her reward for helping the prosecution; she should have to do the entire term of her sentence
Yeahhhh…this is so wrong. Full disclosure, I loved smallville and was genuinely shocked when all this first came out.
I know she gave evidence but she was just as involved as him. She owned the townhouse where all this went down, she recruited these women and children in some cases, she branded them. Does anyone remember when he was arrested and she was running after the car (in Mexico, I think?). This is a tragic story for so many people and I think the victims have a right to be very angry about this two years. And she was on house arrest while she waited to stand trial, living with her parents. Rich, white girl gets special treatment, I’m shocked.
I watched one of the documentaries and she should have gotten longer – she was hard core and was right up with him running it.
wanna bet she makes a movie or something painting herself as the poor victim.
I don’t think she every apologised or took responsibility for what she did – esp the abuse she gave out.
I did a deep-dive last summer on NXIVM. We watched the documentaries and listened to Sarah Edmundson’s audio book about how much she believed in NXIVM and then how twisted it became and how they cooperated with the NYTimes to expose Raniere. The manipulation Raniere engaged in with the women seemed to escalate once he started plotting with Allison Mack, and it was her assurances and pressure that led these women into giving up the collateral and being branded. Mack should still be locked away for the lasting damage she did to these women.
NXIVM became successful because it gave people a place to belong. By virtue of being a celebrity, Mack thrived in NXIVM; she seemed to crave the adulation she got from other cult members. It’s hardly likely that only two years of prison will have cured the gaping hole inside her that made her abuse the NXIVM women, and she sure won’t get any of that adulation anymore in the real world. I could see her mounting a mea culpa rehabilitation tour to feed her massive ego and I hope she gets slapped down fast.
I haven’t followed this story, but cult members can be both victims and abusers. Brainwashed people can justify any behavior, not matter how horrific.
Yes, I was mad when I heard that she was released early. I find her pretty repulsive.
Keith is the monster here, rightly in jail for the rest of his life, and she was brainwashed too. While I think you should face responsibility for your actions even if they were the result of being manipulated, I don’t see how another year could have better served justice. She showed remorse and renounced Keith, and cooperated with the prosecution.
I think when you are sleep deprived and starving your brain shuts down. You simply aren’t capable of rational thought – that’s why so many cult leaders limit food and make their people do excessive activities. I do believe Mack was instrumental in the creation and recruitment of DOS but I’m not sure how in control of herself she was at that point. She was so far in, so under nourished, isolated and exhausted, eager to please… not that this is an excuse but more of an explanation. I’ve been following NXVIM since the first stories broke online around 2018 or so – I’m really surprised they didn’t include any of the “scare” experiments in the documentaries. With those kinds of things going on all the time, you get a better sense of what the environment was like and why it was difficult to have a voice of your own.
I’m glad she cooperated to help put him away forever, but 2 years does not seem like enough for what she did.
No @ lucy2, it wasn’t. Not while she was sentenced to a mere three year sentence, house arrest before the trial, and released a year early. While every victim that Mack prayed upon are sentenced to a lifetime of trauma, possibly perpetuating further, as they seek to recover from the emotional brutality.
Mack simply wanted to save herself by own ass in providing the prosecutors with critical evidence and information. All while her rich, white family paid to millions to represent her to persuade the lightest jail sentence and personal liability they could for her.
I don’t know. What she did is terrible and wrong and she was rightly punished, but I think it’s a lot easier to make a judgment from outside in. The people — like Raniere, Koresh, Hubbard — are expert manipulators and very good at finding people to victimize. Once you’re part of a cult, it’s then easy to convince people that they can’t leave because of what will happen to them if they do.
Everyone should be held accountable for their actions, but differing levels of punishment seem appropriate here.
This is sort of where I fall. She victimized people, she cooperated with the feds & got a reduced sentence. That’s how these things work. The law is a blunt instrument, not a means of justice much of the time.
I think it’s very easy for people to think they couldn’t get caught up in a cult, but it can happen to anyone & it’s very, very difficult to get out. I know a really smart, nice, “ordinary” guy who had to scheme for years to get his entire extended family safely out of a cult. Many other people are still in & are expected to demonstrate their loyalty constantly, even when it hurts others.
@ Lizzie Bathory, that must be torture for your friend that is trying to free his family from a cult. I can’t imagine the brain twisting plan to free them all while possibly facing danger as well. I do hope that your friend is able to help his other family members and that he is victorious in his brave action’s.
@BothSidesNow That’s so kind. My friend did get them all out (including grandparents, cousins, etc), but it was really difficult.
“All Mack served was two years. I’m, angry, are you?”
YES, but less angry about her serving only 2 years of a 3 year sentence and more angry that she was only given 3 years to begin with.
People get out of prison early pretty frequently, (though I am sure rich white people more so than anyone else, but that is a whole separate injustice) so I am not so much incensed that she only did 2 of 3 years. But she should have been given so much longer of a sentence to begin with. She’s guilty of heinous crimes and was instrumental in helping others commit crimes as well. Three years is a joke.
She looks like she just left a spa. I’m side-eyeing this prison. It’s the same one the college scandal women went to, isn’t it?
Yes, she was in Club Fed, not a real prison.
Two years is nothing. She should still be in prison!
Yeah two years is laughable and a disgrace!