US actor Allison Mack has admitted recruiting women to a pyramid scheme that blackmailed female members into providing sexual services to its leaders.
The 36-year-old pleaded guilty in a New York court yesterday to charges of racketeering and conspiracy racketeering related to her role in Nxivm, which has been described as a sex cult.
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One of six people facing criminal charges in connection with Nxivm (pronounced Nexium), Mack originally pleaded not guilty in April 2018 to charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labour conspiracy.
But in a statement this week, Mack said: “I must take full responsibility for my conduct.”
The TV star admitted recruiting women to what she advertised as “female mentorship group”, the BBC reports. In reality, Nxivm was a pyramid scheme that convinced members to pay thousands of dollars for courses to rise through the ranks of the supposed self-help group.
Some members were exploited, “both sexually and for their labour, to the defendants’ benefit”, said US Attorney Richard Donoghue.
According to an indictment, Mack helped founder Keith Raniere start a secret society within Nxivm, “in which women recruited and groomed others under false pretences to be sexual partners for Raniere”, according to CNN.
Appearing in the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse yesterday, Mack said: “I believed Keith Raniere’s intentions were to help people. I was wrong.”
Female recruits were allegedly forced into a “slave and master system” under 58-year-old Raniere, the sole male in the group, that included providing him with sexual services.
“An explosive New York Times report from 2017 alleged that these slaves were required to brand themselves with Mack’s and Raniere’s initials,” says Rolling Stone magazine.
Mack told the court that, as one of Raniere’s top female deputies, she was instructed to collect “compromising materials” relating to several women, including intimate images. These were used to blackmail recruits into complying with their orders.
The actor also admitted using recruits to perform unpaid labour.
Mack is due to be sentenced on 11 September and faces a maximum of 40 years in prison - 20 for each of the two charges against her.
Another co-founder, Nancy Salzman, 65, pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering last month. She is due for sentencing in July.
However, the BBC says that lawyers hired by Raniere “argued that the alleged sexual relationships were consensual”, after the alleged cult leader was arrested in Mexico last year by the FBI.
He has been charged with sex trafficking and possession of child pornography and is due to go on trial later this month.
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