She’s doing pretty well. Canadian actress Allison Mack, who played Clark Kent’s best friend on the show Smallville, was sentenced to three years in prison in the case of the sex sect Nxivm (pronounced “Nexium”). Accused of recruiting young women who had become sex slaves of guru Keith Raniere, she had pleaded guilty to extortion and criminal conspiracy to avoid trial, and risked 17 years in prison. Raniere, had been sentenced to 120 years in prison last October, and the heiress of the Seagram group, which had financed the sect, had been sentenced to six years in prison.
In tears, Allison Mack, 38, shared her remorse before the judge, saying before her sentencing: “I made choices that I will regret forever. I’m sorry for all the ones I brought to Nxivm. I’m sorry for exposing you to abuse from a sick man. The judge considered that his apologies were sincere but that the actress deserved a prison sentence for having acted “actively and of her own free will” for the benefit of Keith Raniere.
Women marked in their flesh
Nxivm advertised itself as an organization helping its members reach their full potential through paid seminars. But a dozen women had accused the actress of having recruited them to join the DOS sorority (Dominus Obsequious Sororium) in order to satisfy Keith Raniere’s sexual pleasures.
The limbs were marked in their flesh by the initials of the guru KR – which could also be read aside “AM”, like Allison Mack – and had to deliver compromising secrets that were subsequently used to blackmail them and guarantee their silence. Allison Mack has been accused of putting several women on calorie restriction before they get skinny. Their ordeal and their fight to free themselves was notably covered in the documentary Escaping Nxivm.