Actress Allison Mack who portrays Clark Kent’s confidante on Smallville has been arrested in connection with a sex trafficking ring. Charges against Mack include sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy.
According to a statement from the Justice Department, Mack was in collaboration with Keith Raniere, founder of an organization called Nxivm (Nex-ium). The group claimed to be a self-help program that recruited women in a mentorship capacity. In actuality, the program was a pyramid scheme in which women paid thousands of dollars for “courses” and recruited others in the same manner. According to U.S. attorney Richard Donoghue, recruits were instead used ‘both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants’ benefit.”
The Nxivm website states the organization is working to claim Raniere’s innocence and “believe the justice system will prevail” in this case. Mack entered a not guilty plea during her hearing; Raniere has yet to be arraigned.
CNN reports that the Nxivm organization has multiple programs through which it has done recruiting. Mack was allegedly co-creator of a component called The Source and looked to recruit actors. A secret society, DOS, was compiled of all women with Raniere as the sole male and leader.
Two women came forward with the allegations against Mack that she recruited and then coerced them into performing sexual acts with Raniere. The women state they were blackmailed into compliance as DOS had “compromising” information about them. It is also alleged she received significant payment for her efforts.
Mack portrayed Chloe Sullivan (Silver Banshee) on Smallville for the entire series run of 2001-2011. Her acting career started at a young age in 1989 with small parts on various series throughout the years. She was most recently seen as Evelyn Gayle on the series Lost in Oz.