Allison Mack has been released from prison a year early after pleading guilty to her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult group NXIVM
The 40-year-old actress was sentenced to three years in prison back in 2021 for recruiting and directing women to have sex with NXIVM's leader Keith Raniere. She served time at a Californian federal prison.
Before her time with the secretive sex cult, she starred as Chloe Sullivan on Smallville alongside Tom Welling and Justin Hartley. While on the show, there was reportedly an overlap between her acting job and her role in the cult as a number of actors who appeared on Smallville were also recruited by the cult.
Allison left the show to "pursue other opportunities" and seven years after the finale, she told Entertainment Tonight that she and her former co-stars had "gone our separate ways" but "still love and support each other". She also shared that she loved playing a "very accessible and very normal" character.
Her role in the cult later developed as she became a master and the face of NXIVM. In promotional videos for the group, she was seen "praising her experience working for JNess, an older NXIVM-affiliated ‘women’s empowerment group,’ which she call[ed] ‘the most gratifying thing [she’s] ever done’”.
Allison also tried to recruit other actresses, including Emma Watson and Samia Shoaib.
After she was arrested and sentenced, she spent less than two years at a low-security women's prison after she avoided a longer sentence by cooperating with authorities in their case against Raniere. He was convicted on sex-trafficking charges and sentenced to 120 years in prison.
Allison helped prosecutors collect evidence on Raniere's crimes. It was revealed how he had brainwashed women, branded them with his initials and forced them to have sex with him.
She was originally set to face a 17-year prison sentence after she pleaded guilty in 2019 to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges. During her sentencing, she apologised to her victims and denounced Raniere, saying: "I made choices I will forever regret.
"I'm filled with remorse and guilt. I renounced Keith Raniere and all of his teachings. From the deepest part of my soul, I am sorry."
