Allison Mack Apologizes and Seeks No Jail Time Days Before NXIVM Sex Cult Case Sentencing
Smallville alum Allison Mack has issued another apology and is asking for no jail time days before her sentencing over her involvement in the NXIVM sex cult.
The 38-year-old former actress made her comments in a letter sent to a New York judge ahead of her hearing on Wednesday, June 30. In 2019, Mack pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with her role in NXIVM. At the time, she tearfully said she was "very sorry for who I've hurt" through her "misguided adherence" to the teachings of Keith Raniere, the group's founder, who was sentenced last October to 120 years in prison for sex trafficking and other crimes.
"It is now of paramount importance for me to say, from the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry," Mack echoed in her letter to the judge, filed as part of a sentencing memo on Friday, June 25 and obtained by E! News on Saturday, June 26. "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. This was the biggest mistake and regret of my life."
Raniere and Mack were both detained in 2018 and she has been on house arrest since then. Prosecutors accused Raniere of running a secret society, DOS, within NXIVM, whose female members were branded with his initials, put on starvation diets and forced to have sex with him. Earlier this week, federal prosecutors asked the judge to give Mack a reduced sentence, citing her cooperation that helped lead to Raniere's conviction. They said she provided them with an audio tape, in which she and Raniere have a discussion about how to brand his "slaves," Variety reported.
Mack was accused of recruiting DOS members by telling them they were joining an empowering women-only organization. When she entered her guilty plea in 2019, Mack admitted to blackmailing two women into performing services in NXIVM by threatening to release damaging information about them.
"I am sorry to those of you that I brought into Nxivm," Mack said in her letter. "I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man. I am sorry I encouraged you to use your resources to participate in something that was ultimately so ugly."
Inside her filing, Mack also included several character reference letters, including from her brother, sister and mother, who wrote that her daughter's "friends and family are prepared to move heaven and earth to support her throughout her rehabilitation process."
Last week, prosecutors asked the judge for leniency on sentencing Mack, whose crimes could result in 14 to 17 years in jail, Variety reported. Her sentencing memo states that she "respectfully asks the Court to permit her to continue down this path of growth and reform by imposing a sentence without incarceration, and which would permit her to continue her academic studies."
Since her arrest, Mack has tried to turn her life around. She worked for a catering business, obtained an associate's degree from an unnamed community college and has enrolled in a bachelor's degree program at UC Berkeley, the outlet reported.
Meanwhile, Mack is also undergoing another major life change as she awaits sentencing: In February, Mack filed for divorce from her wife of four years, Nicki Clyne.