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Mack, 36, entered her plea to racketeering and
conspiracy charges before U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis
in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, admitting that she
coerced the two unnamed women into performing services by
threatening to release damaging information about them.
Fighting back tears, Mack said she had joined the organization,
led by self-described spiritual guide Keith Raniere, a decade
ago to find purpose in life.
"Through it all, I believed that Keith Raniere's intentions were
to help people," she said. "I was wrong. I now realize that I
and others engaged in criminal conduct."
There was no mention at the plea hearing of any agreement by
Mack to cooperate with prosecutors against Raniere, who is
expected to go on trial later this month. Mack's lawyers
declined to provide any further details about her plea deal.
Raniere, 58, was arrested on sex trafficking charges in March
2018, and is being held without bail. Mack was arrested the
following month.
Prosecutors accused Raniere of running a cult-like secret
society within his organization, Nxivm (pronounced "Nexium"), in
which women were branded with his initials, put on extremely
restrictive diets and forced to have sex with him.
Last month, prosecutors unsealed new charges accusing Raniere of
sexually exploiting a minor and coercing her to produce child
pornography.
Raniere has pleaded not guilty. Marc Agnifilo, one of his
lawyers, declined to comment on the case after Monday's hearing.
Agnifilo has previously said that his client's sexual encounters
with women in the organization were consensual, and denied the
child pornography charges.
Nxivm on its website calls itself "a community guided by
humanitarian principles that seek to empower people and answer
important questions about what it means to be human." The
website now carries a message saying that all "enrollment,
curriculum and events" are canceled "until further notice,"
adding that "we continue to believe in the value and importance
of our work."
Two other people charged in the case, former Nxivm president
Nancy Salzman and her daughter Lauren Salzman, previously
pleaded guilty.
Also charged alongside Raniere are Seagram liquor heiress Clare
Bronfman and Nxivm member Kathy Russell, who have pleaded not
guilty.
"Smallville," a television series that ran from 2001 to 2011,
featured a young Clark Kent before he became famous as Superman.
Mack played Chloe Sullivan, a close friend of the future
Superman whose romantic feelings were not reciprocated.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Steve
Orlofsky and Leslie Adler)
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