Allison Mack

Allison Mack (born July 29, 1982) is an American actress. She played Chloe Sullivan on the superhero series Smallville (2001–2011) and had a recurring role on the comedy series Wilfred (2012–2014).

Mack was a member of NXIVM, a sex-trafficking cult and multi-level marketing company. In 2018, she was arrested by federal authorities on charges of sex trafficking, sex-trafficking conspiracy, and forced labor conspiracy related to her involvement in NXIVM and its subgroup, DOS. Mack pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges and, in 2021, was sentenced to three years in prison. She served 21 months at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, California, and was released in July 2023.

Early life

Mack was born on July 29, 1982, in Preetz, West Germany, to American parents Jonathan Mack, an opera singer, and Mindy Mack, a schoolteacher and bookkeeper. She has an older brother. Her parents were in West Germany at the time of her birth because Jonathan was performing there; they lived in West Germany for two years before returning to the United States, settling in Long Beach, California, where Mack was raised.

Career

Early work

Mack's first job was for a German chocolate company in a series of print ads and commercials. She went into modeling for a short period and studied at the Young Actors Space in Los Angeles at age seven.

Mack's first major television role was in an episode of the WB/CW series 7th Heaven, in which she gained attention playing a teenager who cut herself. In 2000, she co-starred in the short-lived series Opposite Sex. Her film credits include roles in My Horrible Year! (Eric Stoltz's directorial debut), Camp Nowhere, and in the Disney film Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.

Smallville

In October 2001, Mack began starring as Chloe Sullivan (an original character created for the show), one of Clark Kent's best friends in the WB/CW television series Smallville. Mack earned several awards and nominations for her portrayal of Chloe, including the Teen Choice Award for Best Sidekick in 2006 and 2007. She appeared as a series regular for nine seasons and returned as an intermittent main cast member in the tenth and final season, including the two-part series finale. From 2003 to 2006, Mack's character appeared in her own miniseries Smallville: Chloe Chronicles and Smallville: Vengeance Chronicles. In 2008, Mack made her directorial debut in Smallville season 8 episode "Power".

In 2002, Mack made a couple of appearances along with her Smallville castmate Sam Jones III in R. L. Stine's miniseries The Nightmare Room. In 2006, she voiced Clea, a museum curator, in an episode of The Batman. Adding to her DC Comics resume, she lent her voice for Power Girl in the animated feature Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009). Mack was also listed as a member of the Iris Theatre Company.

After Smallville

In March 2012, Mack was cast in a recurring role in the second season of the FX sitcom Wilfred. She played Amanda, the love interest of Elijah Wood's lead character Ryan. Mack returned to Wilfred for one episode of the fourth and final season. In 2014, Mack guest-starred as a policewoman named Hilary in an episode of the Fox thriller The Following. On March 21, 2015, she tweeted that she would be appearing in American Odyssey as Julia, who befriends Suzanne, the daughter of Anna Friel's lead character Sgt. Odelle Ballard.

Involvement with NXIVM and fallout

Mack was a member of NXIVM, an organization founded by Keith Raniere and headquartered in Albany, New York. Throughout its existence, advocates of NXIVM characterized it as a benign multi-level marketing company selling professional and personal development courses, while critics described it as a cult.

NXIVM and DOS

Mack joined NXIVM in 2006 after attending a two-day introduction to "Jness", a women's group within NXIVM, eventually becoming a high-ranking member of the organization. Mack was co-creator of "The Source", a NXIVM program that recruited actors. She was also a member of "Simply Human", an a cappella NXIVM singing group, and the emcee of "A Capella Innovations", a multi-day festival. Hosted by NXIVM in 2007 and 2008, the events were billed as a university singing showcase and were alleged to be "a front to draw impressionable undergrads into NXIVM."

In 2015, Raniere created a secret subgroup within NXIVM called "Dominus Obsequious Sororium" (DOS), of which Mack was allegedly second-in-command. DOS was structured as a pyramid group with Raniere at the top (and the only man in DOS) with subordinates including Mack and others as Raniere's first-line DOS masters. DOS was ostensibly built around female empowerment but mainly provided a means to traffic women for Raniere's gratification. According to prosecutors, Mack and others recruited women by telling them they were joining a women-only organization that would empower them, with Raniere's status as the leader of DOS concealed from new recruits. As a pre-condition for joining DOS, women were required to provide "collateral", which included nude photographs, damaging information about family and friends, and rights to their assets. Recruits were told their collateral could be released if they left DOS or told anyone about DOS's existence. Recruits were also controlled in several other ways, including requirements to seek permission, physical isolation, forced participation in "readiness drills", sleep deprivation, extremely restrictive diets, and being subject to corporal punishment.

Mack reportedly recruited four women into DOS, including India Oxenberg, daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg. As directed by Raniere, Mack and others required their recruits to be branded with a symbol representing Raniere's initials, with the branding ritual following a script created by Raniere. Mack's recruits were unaware that the brand was composed of Raniere's initials, and said that Mack had told them that the brand was a symbol of the elements: air, earth, fire, and water. Former NXIVM member Sarah Edmondson stated in a 2017 New York Times exposé and a 2018 A&E special on cults details about DOS that she had been branded in an initiation ceremony at Mack's house. In a New York Times interview, Mack claimed that the human branding was her idea.

Arrest and conviction

On April 20, 2018, Mack was arrested by the FBI in Brooklyn on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and forced labor conspiracy. The federal indictment accused Mack of "recruiting women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere." Mack was one of the "top members of a highly organized scheme which was designed to provide sex to [Raniere]." Prosecutors accused Mack of concealing Raniere's status as the leader of DOS as she coaxed recruits to provide highly damaging personal information, nude photos, and rights to personal assets. After Mack recruited women to join DOS, "under the guise of female empowerment, she starved women until they fit [Raniere's] sexual feminine ideal." Mack directly or implicitly required her recruits to engage in sexual activity with Raniere. In exchange, Mack received financial and other benefits from Raniere.

On April 24, 2018, Mack was released from Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn on a $5 million bond and held under house arrest under the custody of her parents in California. During Mack's arraignment proceedings, prosecutors also accused her of entering a sham marriage with Nicki Clyne to help Clyne circumvent US immigration laws.

Guilty plea and sentencing

Under the original indictment, Mack faced a minimum of 15 years to life in prison if found guilty. In March 2019, it was revealed in court that Mack and the other defendants in the case were in "active plea negotiations" as Raniere appeared in court to plead not guilty to additional child pornography charges related to the case.

According to a filing by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Mack sat down for proffer sessions to assist the government in the prosecution of Raniere starting in April 2019. Mack detailed the inner workings of DOS. "Mack also provided details regarding crimes committed by other first-line DOS masters, including assignments to seduce Raniere and efforts to find Raniere a virgin successor. Mack detailed Raniere's role in devising assignments for Mack's slaves, including, among other things, Raniere's repeated requests for nude photographs from Mack's DOS slaves; Raniere's instructions regarding the seduction assignment; and Raniere's encouragement of the use of demeaning and derogatory language, including racial slurs, to humiliate DOS slaves." Mack provided information to the government about Clare Bronfman's attempts to harass and threaten DOS victims. Mack also provided a recording in which Raniere detailed how he wanted the branding ceremony conducted.