TheQuartering [6/30/2021]
Did someone say “sex cult?”
Smallville actress Allison Mack, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to manipulating women into becoming sex slaves via the “self-improvement” cult NXIVM, was sentenced on Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court to three years in prison.
Mack was arrested in 2018 along with a handful of other NXIVM bigwigs, most notably ringleader Keith Raniere, who was sentenced in October to 120 years in prison. Mack was charged with sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy. She was facing a maximum 17-year prison sentence.
“I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM,” Mack wrote in a court filing ahead of her sentencing. “I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man.”
Mack’s involvement with the group gained added attention by way of HBO’s NXIVM-themed docuseries The Vow. Shortly after the finale aired in October, HBO announced that it was moving forward with a second season, to premiere in late 2021.
The new episodes — which will premiere in 2021 — will offer an “exclusive view” into Raniere’s “innermost circle” while delving “into the stories of NXIVM’s top leadership in the US and Mexico, and into powerful, intimate stories of DOS members,” per the premium cabler. The follow-up will also continue to track “the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters and defectors as new evidence and stunning revelations come to light while federal prosecutors and defense attorneys battle for opposing views of justice in a case caught in the national spotlight.”