Smallville actress accused of sex trafficking out on $6.6m bail
Actress Allison Mack to stand trial for allegedly recruiting sex slaves for US cult Nxivm
She allegedly lured women to join a sex cult.
In fact, actress Allison Mack, who played Superman's good friend Chloe in the long-running TV series Smallville, is supposed to be one of the leaders of the cult and was arrested on April 20 by the FBI.
Mack, 35, was released from jail on US$5 million (S$6.6 million) bail bond on April 23 to await trial on charges of recruiting women to serve as sex slaves in what prosecutors called a secret society run by self-help guru Keith Raniere.
A US magistrate judge released Mack after her parents agreed to put the family's home up as collateral and Mack, 35, agreed to live with her parents under house arrest, reported Reuters.
Federal prosecutors in New York charged Mack with sex trafficking and conspiracy for recruiting women into a programme within Raniere's organisation Nxivm, representing it as a female mentorship group. They said that Mack, who has pleaded not guilty, played a major role in the group.
Raniere, 57, was arrested on sex trafficking charges last month, and is being held without bail.
Prosecutors allege so-called Nxivm "slaves" were forced to starve; ordered to remain celibate; and held down as Raniere's initials were branded below their hips with a cauterising pen.
A HIGHLY ORGANISED SCHEME
Mack is alleged to have put her hands on the women's chests, telling them to "feel the pain" and to "think of master", reported the Guardian.
"Ms Mack was one of the top members of a highly organised scheme which was designed to provide sex to Raniere," assistant US attorney Moira Penza said in court.
"Under the guise of female empowerment, she starved women until they fit her co-defendant's sexual feminine ideal."
The government also alleged that Mack forced recruits to pose naked for photos - "including on one occasion close-up pictures of their genitals" - that were given to Raniere, the Guardian reported
Mr Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Raniere, said earlier this month that he was "confident these allegations will be soundly disproven."
Mack also reportedly tried to lure high-profile feminists Emma Watson and Kelly Clarkson into her disturbing sex cult in a series of tweets, reported The Daily Mail.
Mack reportedly tweeted the pair about an "amazing women's movement" and invited them to have a 'chat' with her about it.
"I'm a fellow actress like yourself & involved in an amazing women's movement I think you'd dig," Mack wrote to Watson in January 2016. "I'd love to chat if you're open."
The next month she tweeted the star again, writing: "I participate in a unique human development & women's movement I'd love to tell you about."
Three years earlier she wrote to Clarkson: "I heard through the grapevine that you're a fan of Smallville. I'm a fan of yours as well!" she wrote. "I'd love to chat sometime."
Mack's Smallville co-star Kristin Kreuk was a one-time member of the group. She introduced Mack to the group but said she left well before the humilition and branding began.
She posted a statement on Twitter on March 29, denying she had ever recruited sex slaves during her time as a group member, as the New York Post claimed.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
