Inside NXIVM, the New York ‘sex cult’ that drew in Smallville actress Allison Mack

The highly successful Hollywood actress did not appear to be a lost soul. Allison Mack was seen by friends on the set of Smallville, the drama about Superman’s early years, as open, friendly, and highly professional. For 10 years she played Clark Kent’s best friend – a sought-after role in a hit show, and the culmination of years of work as a child actor and model in Germany, where she was born.

But by 2010, as Smallville’s run was coming to an end, she was looking for answers.

She found them with Keith Raniere.

New York-born Mr Raniere, now 58, had founded in the early 1990s an organisation called NXIVM, which offered “executive success programmes” and self-help therapies.

“NXIVM is a community…