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Allison Mack Seeks Plea Deal in Exchange for Cooperation Against Former Master Keith Raniere

By: Tony Farina

The Albany-based Nxivm cult that allegedly recruited women to be sex slaves is on the brink of collapse with the federal indictment in Brooklyn last Friday of cult leader Keith Raniere and “Smallville” television actress Allison Mack on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Niagara Falls-based journalist Frank Parlato, a former Nxivm consultant, is credited by numerous media sources with first exposing the cult’s recruiting and branding of women, reports that eventually attracted the attention of federal prosecutors who arrested Raniere last month in Mexico.

According to Parlato, Mack is already involved in plea bargain negotiations with prosecutors, a signal that she is willing to cooperate in the case again Raniere, the leader known as Vanguard. Both face multiple counts and could face a minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted.

Mack is accused in the indictment of starving women “until they fit her co-defendant’s sexual ideal,” according to Assistant U. S. Attorney Moira Kim Penza as reported by the Associated Press.

It all began to unravel for Raniere and his 200-member cult last June when Parlato, the publisher of the Niagara Falls Reporter who also writes for several websites including Artvoice, first reported that women were being forcibly branded as part of the NIXVM “sorority.” But the determined Parlato didn’t stop there and continued to report on the brutalization of female victims leading to a series of stories by the New York Times that put NXIVM on the radar screen of federal prosecutors.

Parlato told the New York Post last week that Nxivm is in full-out “war” mode and has set up headquarters in Brooklyn, financed by longtime Raniere supporter, Seagram’s heieress Clare Bronfman.

“She has taken control and is doing everything she can to help Raniere’s defense,” said Parlato. The businessman-journalist said Bronfman is ruling with an “iron fist,” although Mack’s plea bargaining efforts could be a fatal blow to Raniere.

Bronfman reportedly has moved near the federal facility, just east of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, where Raniere is being held without bail pending his next court appearance on Friday.

“It is hard to say what the remaining members of Nxivm will do now that Raniere is in jail and Mack is a potentially cooperating witness,” said Parlato. “But Clare is a very strong-minded woman with virtually unlimited financial resources, so what she will do and how she will keep the group together during this crisis remains to be seen.”

Parlato, who has authored numerous stories on Nxivm’s activities, vows to continue to follow the case to its conclusion, citing the terrible pain and frustration suffered by so many victims and their families as a result of the cult’s abuse of women.

“It is a terrible story and now the public is learning about what happened under the guise of a self-help group under the tryrannical leadership of Raniere, a self-described genius who commanded his slaves to obey his sexual wishes,” said Parlato. “It is a tale of horror and hopefully it has now come to an end.”