Actress Allison Mack, best known for her role as Chloe Sullivan on the Superman prequel Smallville, has been arrested in connection with the case of an alleged cult leader.
News 4 New York reports Mack was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, by the FBI, and is expected to appear today in federal court, where she’ll face charges related to the recruitment of women to the group, Nxivm (pronounced ” Nex-e-um”).
Her arrest follows that of group leader Keith Raniere on March 25 in Mexico on multiple charges of sex trafficking and forced labor. Rumblings of the imminent arrest of Mack, characterized as one Raniere’s top aides, had circulated since then. Raniere’s attorneys maintain his innocence.
Although the Albany, New York-based Nxivm began primarily focused on “inspirational executive coaching,” effectively selling pricey self-help courses to wannabe millionaires, Raniere allegedly started his own secret splinter group — supposedly devoted to female empowerment — in which he coerced women into a master-slave relationship. The federal complaint alleges that Raniere, known as “The Vanguard,” had the women branded with a design composed of his and Mack’s initials. She was identified at the time as an unnamed co-conspirator.
Court documents allege that women recruited into the group, referred to as “DOS” or the “Vow,” were coerced into providing compromising material, such as nude photos or damaging personal information, that would then be released if they ever told anyone about it.
Raniere had allegedly left the United States in November for Mexico after authorities began interviewing witnesses and victims in connection with Nxivm and the sex club. He was apprehended at a $10,000-a-week villa near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he was said to be living with several women. Reports circulated that Mack was present at the time of Raniere’s arrest.
Outside of its Albany base, Nxivm had an active community in Vancouver, British Columbia, where numerous television shows are filmed. Battlestar Galactica actresses Grace Park and Nicki Clyne, and Smallville star Kristin Kreuk were member of the organization at one point. However, Park and Kreuk have since cut ties, with the latter leaving the group in 2012.
Kreuk, who played Lana Lang on Smallville, released a statement last month following Raniere’s arrest, clarifying her own involvement in Nxivm, and denying that she was ever part of his “inner circle” or helped to recruit women as “sex slaves.”
pic.twitter.com/W0aijK3LcX
— Kristin Kreuk (@MsKristinKreuk) March 29, 2018
Mack, now 35, was reportedly recruited into Nxivm in 2010 by Kreuk.