Updated at 6:15 p.m. ET: Allison Mack and Keith Raniere have been indicted on three counts in sex-trafficking case, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. The charges, which were filed in the afternoon on Friday, April 20, following their arrests, include sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and conspiracy to commit forced labor.
Smallville alum Allison Mack has been arrested for her alleged involvement in a sex-trafficking case, according to the Associated Press.
Mack, 35, was arrested in Brooklyn on Friday, April 20, by the FBI and is expected to be charged with sex trafficking for recruiting women to be slaves of Keith Raniere, the leader of the group Nxivm, the AP reports. She is set to appear in a Brooklyn federal court later today. Raniere, who started the group, has been charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors.
“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,” United States Attorney Richard P. Donoghue told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “The victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants’ benefit.”
Authorities alleged earlier this year that the women — who were referred to as “slaves” by Raniere — were branded with his and Mack’s initials in their pelvic region and forced into sexual intercourse.
Fellow Smallville castmate Kristin Kreuk broke her silence on her involvement in the women-only group in March in a Twitter post. She detailed that she joined Nxivm at the young age of 23, and thought of it as a “self-help/personal growth course that helped me handle my previous shyness, which is why I continued with the program.”
She added: “The accusations that I was in the ‘inner circle’ or recruited women as ‘sex slaves’ are blatantly false. During my time, I never experienced any illegal or nefarious activity. I am horrified and disgusted by what has come out about DOS.”
“I am deeply disturbed and embarrassed to have been associated with NXIVM,” Kreuk wrote. “I hope that the investigation leads to justice for all those affected.”
Raniere was first arrested in Mexico on March 25 on sex trafficking charges.
