According to a statement released by the Justice Department, actress Allison Mack, best known for her role on Smallville, was indicted Friday on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy.
WOW’s James St. James reported this story last month that she was under investigation, but after Mack’s arrest, this is shocking front page news.
Mack’s alleged involvement was with an organization called Nxivm, a group who claimed to be a self-help program. In reality, it was a pyramid scheme where, according to U.S attorney Richard P. Donoghue, recruits were exploited
“both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants’ benefit.“
Nxivm’s founder, Keith Raniere, known within the group as Vanguard, was also indicted on Friday and will be arraigned on a date to be determined.
Donoghue stated,
“As alleged in the indictment, Allison Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere.“
The U.S. Attorney’s office, John Marzulli, confirmed to CNN that Mack entered a not guilty plea.
A statement posted on the Nxivm website says the group is,
“working with the authorities to demonstrate [Raniere’s] innocence and true character. We strongly believe the justice system will prevail in bringing the truth to light.“
Allison Mack began acting at a young age but joining the cast of superhero series Smallville in 2001, was her big break in Hollywood. Mack later had roles on Wilfred and American Odyssey. Her most recent credit was in Amazon‘s animated series Lost in Oz as a voiceover.
(Photos, CW, Instagram; via CNN)
