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Actress Allison Mack, best known for her role as Clark Kent's confidant Chloe in the television series Smallville, was arrested on Friday (local time) on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labour.
Key points:
- Mack pleaded not guilty at a brief hearing on Friday (local time)
- She is accused of recruiting women into a secret society known as NXIVM, led by Keith Raniere
- Women were allegedly forced to have sex with Raniere and were branded with his initals
Mack and self-help guru Keith Raniere, the leader of what authorities allege is a sex cult, are each charged with multiple counts, and could face a minimum up to 15 years in prison.
Mack pleaded not guilty to the charges after federal prosecutors said she worked as a slave "master" recruiting unsuspecting women to a cult-like group led by a man who sold himself as a self-improvement guru to the stars.
Prosecutors said she helped recruit women for Raniere and his cult-like organisation called NXIVM and that Mack told the women they were joining a female mentorship group.
"[But] the victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labour," federal prosecutors said.
"Mack and other … masters recruited … slaves by telling them that they were joining a women-only organisation that would empower them and eradicate purported weaknesses the NVIVM curriculum taught were common in women."
Prosecutors said she required women she recruited to engage in sexual activity with Raniere, who paid Mack in return.
Assistant US Attorney Moira Kim Penza said in court that that "under the guise of female empowerment" Mack "starved women until they fit her co-defendant's sexual ideal".
Federal authorities raided an upstate New York residence near Albany where NXIVM was headquartered in March. The organisation also ran programs in Mexico.
Women say they were branded against their will
Raniere, 57, was arrested in Mexico and brought to the US on March 26. He is being held without bail in Brooklyn.
The FBI has filed sex trafficking charges against him, saying that with the help of mostly female assistants, he blackmailed and coerced women into unwanted sex. Prosecutors hinted in earlier papers that Mack was one of the co-conspirators; it is not clear who else may be charged.
Raniere's attorney has said the facts would show his client did not compel or pressure anyone to do anything. He says everyone was acting in accordance with his or her free will at every instant.
Raniere — known within the group as "Vanguard" —sold himself as a self-improvement guru to the stars and his core disciples who include actresses, wealthy heiresses and a son of the former president of Mexico.
Mack's Smallville co-star Kristin Kreuk said she was involved with one of the group's self-help programs but left about five years ago. She wrote on Twitter last month that she didn't experience any "nefarious activity" and was "horrified and disgusted" by the allegations.
Founded in 1998, NXIVM promoted Raniere's teachings as a kind of mystical, executive coaching designed to help people get the most out of life. Those enrolled in its Executive Success Programs paid handsomely for his advice. The organisation also drew criticism from people who likened it to a cult.
Last year, the accusations took a new twist, with women who were part of a NXIVM subgroup coming forward to say that they had been physically branded with a surgical tool against their will.
Prosecutors said in court papers that Raniere created a society within NXIVM called DOS — an acronym based on a Latin phrase that loosely translates to "Lord/Master of obedient female companions".
Women were required to provide damaging material about their friends and family, naked photos and even sign over their assets as a condition for joining, they said. Many were branded with his initials, they said.
Mack was accused in an indictment unsealed by the federal court in Brooklyn. She entered her plea and was remanded to custody after Judge Cheryl Pollak refused a request from her lawyers to release her without bail. A bail hearing will be held Monday.
The 35-year-old starred in The CW network's Smallville but since that series ended in 2011 she has played only minor roles.
AP
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, television, united-states
First posted