“Smallville” actor Allison Mack was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for her role in the scandal-ridden, cult-like NXIVM group.

       Mack had previously pleaded guilty to charges that she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group’s spiritual leader, Keith Raniere. She cooperated against Raniere and took responsibility for helping him create a secret society of brainwashed women who were branded with his initials, which was expected to lower her sentence.

       Mack is best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on the series “Smallville.”

       Devoting herself to Raniere “was the biggest mistake and greatest regret of my life,” she wrote in a letter filed with the court last week.

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       “I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM,” she wrote. “I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man.”

       Under advisory sentencing guidelines, Mack would have faced between 14 and 17？ years behind bars. Her defense team argued in court papers that probation or a sentence of home confinement was more appropriate, and prosecutors agreed that a shorter prison term was acceptable because of her cooperation.

       World & Nation

       Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman sentenced to almost 7 years in NXIVM sex-slave case

       World & Nation

       Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman sentenced to almost 7 years in NXIVM sex-slave case

       Seagram’s liquor heiress Clare Bronfman is sentenced to almost seven years in prison in the conspiracy case involving the NXIVM self-improvement group.

       “The NXIVM saga and the story of Ms. Mack’s descent have been a tragedy for all involved. But that need not, and should not, be the end of the story for Allison Mack,” her lawyers wrote in court papers.

       Mack, 38, was once part of the inner circle of Raniere, whose group attracted millionaires and actors among its adherents. Prosecutors said she became a “master” for “slaves” she ordered “to perform labor, take nude photographs, and in some cases, to engage in sex acts with Raniere.”

       As authorities closed in on Raniere, he fled to Mexico with Mack and others to try to reconstitute the group there. He was arrested and sent to the United States in March 2018; Mack was arrested a few days later.

       “Ms. Mack now understands that this was the best thing that could have happened to her at that time,” the defense papers say.

       Mack provided information to prosecutors about how Raniere encouraged “the use of demeaning and derogatory language, including racial slurs, to humiliate ‘slaves,’” the government papers said. More importantly, she provided a recording of a conversation she had with Raniere about the branding, they added.

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       The branding should involve “a vulnerable position type of a thing” with “hands probably above the head being held, almost like being tied down, like sacrificial, whatever,” Raniere told her. The women, he added, “should say, ‘Please brand me. It would be an honor.’ Or something like that.”

       Raniere was sentenced last year to 120 years in prison for his conviction on sex-trafficking charges.