What You Need To Know About the Allison Mack Sex Slavery Cult Case
This past Friday April 20th, 35 year old actress Allison Mack was arrested for her involvement with the high-profile cult NXIVM and its alleged sex slavery ring. Most known (until now, that is) for her role as Chloe Sullivan in the popular CW Superman prequel series, Smallville, Mack joined the Albany-based cult in 2013.
Before we delve into Mack's involvement, let's go over some basic information about NXIVM and its founder. NXIVM (prononced Nex-i-um,) also known as Executive Success Programs, was founded in 1998 by now 57 year-old leader Keith Raniere. Growing up, he was considered an intellect and boy genius, mastered calculus by age 12, and attending college at age 16. He enrolled at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, where he majored in biology, physics and math, and minored in both philosophy and psychology. (It's the psychology minor I'm personally most worried about.) Following graduation, he started his first company, called Consumer's Buyline Inc, where he promised his clients huge discounts on household appliances, vacations and food in order to live a luxurious lifestyle. Investigators later discovered this business was a pyramid scheme, forcing Raniere to close up shop. His next endeavor, NXIVM, would promise to offer seminars that would help people to overcome the barriers in their lives that plague them. The group has gained an alleged 10,000 "followers" throughout the years from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
This cult included many high-profile members, including cofounder of BET: Sheila Johnson, former US surgeon general: Antonia Novello, acting chief executive of Enron: Stephen Cooper, daughter of former Mexico president Vicente Fox: Ana Cristina Fox, and the daughter of Dynasty's Catherine Oxenberg: India Oxenberg. Students pay up to $10,000 for 5 days of lectures that include intense emotional probing that can last for an exhausting 13 hours per session. With those prices, it's no wonder its clientele consisted of mostly wealthy and high-profile individuals.
The signature NXIVM brand
Once someone has agreed to join the cult, they are allegedly forced to cut ties from their families and submit incriminating photos or evidence about themselves as collateral in the event that they spill information to the authorities or media about the group's existence. According to former victim Sarah Edmondson, they are then told that they'll be getting a small tattoo, but are instead strapped to a table and branded with a small symbol on their pelvises, while being forced to say the words "Master, please brand me, It would be an honor." It then becomes their jobs to fulfill every sick and twisted sexual desire Raniere can come up with. Starvation tactics are also used on those who won't submit to his demands. Over time, the women are segregated to different small groups and then later trained and given a requirement to find six new recruits each under the guise that their organization exists to empower and help women through their struggles and insecurities. The cycle then continues.
Allison Mack with Keith Raniere
Mack, after working on several "projects" with Raniere in 2013, joined NXIVM and soon became his second in command, using her social media platforms to gain her fans' trust and talk about how her lifestyle and new-found way of thinking has changed her for the better. Just as Raniere was known for his nickname "Vanguard," Mack ended up taking on the nickname "Pimp Mack." Investigators found out from witnesses and victims that she was the one who added the more brutal elements to his recruitment process, including the branding process. Some say that the design branded on the slaves is a combination of Keith Raniere and Allison Mack's initials, depending on its orientation. Mack has even admitted that her tactic in this matter has been to "target vulnerable women."
The FBI raided Raniere's Albany town home in March, before successfully discovering him at a $10,000/week villa in Puerto Vallarta Mexico, where he and Mack had been hiding out. A month later on April 20th, Mack was arrested in Brooklyn. Mack has pleaded not-guilty, and will be going to prison with no bail. She will serve 15 years to life in prison. And you know which outcome I'm hoping for. Raniere will be arraigned on a date that is not yet known to the public.
It's also been alleged that fellow Smallville cast member and close friend of Mack's, Kristin Kreuk, has had involvement with the cult for a period of time as well, and may act as a witness during this case. Katherine Oxenberg has been working hard to raise awarness about her daughter's painful experience with the cult, and Raniere's ex girlfriend has been speaking out about his manipulative tendency's and bizarre sexual needs and desires.
I will continue to follow this story as more information arises.
In these hopeful #MeToo and #TimesUp times, I think it's important to focus on stories like these of groups, programs and people that claim to want to empower women, and instead have the same intentions of taking advantage of them as the monsters we see coming from a mile away. Putting these people away is another huge step forward in breaking the cycle of harm and manipulation towards women that the media would like us to believe is only happening at the hands of Harvey Weinsteins.
