Allison Mack, Former NXIVM ‘Sex Cult’ Leader, Released From Prison After Two Years
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Allison Mack, the former Smallville star accused of recruiting young women as “slaves” for a secret society within NXIVM, was released from federal prison earlier this week after serving two years of a three-year sentence.
Mack was released on Monday, July 3, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. While Mack had faced up to 17 years in prison, her decision to plead guilty to racketeering charges and provide prosecutors with evidence about NXIVM leader Keith Raniere led to the shortened sentence.
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Mack was arrested in Brooklyn in 2018 and initially faced charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and forced labor conspiracy. As second-in-command at NXIVM — a self-improvement group and multi-level marketing organization widely described as a “sex cult” — she allegedly served as a “master” in DOS, a secret subset of NXIVM, recruiting others for what was pitched as a “women’s empowerment group.”
Prosecutors alleged, however, that members of DOS (called “slaves”) were required to be branded with Mack’s and Raniere’s initials and have sex with Raniere to prove their fealty to the group. In exchange for membership, Mack and other “masters” allegedly coerced recruits into providing “collateral” such as nude images or sexually explicit videos.
One NXIVM victim, the actress Jessica Joan, notably read a statement at Mack’s sentencing in 2021. She called Mack “a demon of a woman,” who had groomed her to be a “sex slave.” She added, “Allison Mack and Keith Rainiere are the most evil monsters I’ve ever met. She sought me out like a predator stalking their prey.”
Reached for comment, Joan tells Rolling Stone it was “jarring” to see Mack released early from her sentence, but her feelings toward Raniere’s second-in-command have somewhat softened. “I am an optimist, and I do believe that people can change,” she says. “I’m not saying that she has changed, but I don’t want to create a limitation around the possibility of that occurring. And for myself, it’s very important to forgive people that have hurt me, because if I hold on to that, then that’s just going to hinder my own growth and healing.”
In her own sentencing statement, Mack called joining NXIVM “the biggest mistake and regret of my life.” She added: “I threw myself into the teachings of Keith Raniere with everything I had. I believed, whole-heartedly, that his mentorship was leading me to a better, more enlightened version of myself. I devoted my loyalty, my resources, and, ultimately, my life to him.”
Joan says she didn’t believe Mack’s apology at the time, and she still doesn’t believe it was necessarily genuine. “It didn’t have the weight of what that really means,” she says, looking back on that moment in court. “To me, the real ‘sorry’ is changed behavior, so this is now her opportunity.”
Mack is the first sentenced NXIVM member to be released from prison. Clare Bronfman, the billionaire heiress to the Seagram Company fortune, is expected to be released in June 2025 after earning six years and nine months for pleading guilty to immigration and fraud charges. And Nancy Salzman, NXIVM’s co-founder, who pleaded guilty to racketeering, is expected to be released in July 2024 following her three-and-a-half-year sentence.
Raniere, meanwhile, was sentenced to 120 years in prison after being found guilty of all criminal charges against him, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and wire fraud conspiracy.
This story was updated on 7/6 at 5:00 pm to include a comment from Jessica Joan.
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