Smallville star Allison Mack 'lured a suicidal struggling actress into NXIVM sex cult by telling her she could be Wonder Woman and coached her to write letters falsely accusing her own father of sex abuse'
- Former member of NXIVM's master-slave group DOS, 31-year-old actress named Nicole, testified in leader Keith Raniere's trial this week
- Nicole said Smallville actress Allison Mack, 36, lured her into DOS by painting it as a women's empowerment group
- Around the time she joined the group in February 2016, Nicole said she was depressed and suicidal, and thought DOS would help her
- The witness claimed Mack coached her to write letters accusing her parents and ex-boyfriend of misdeeds, to be used as 'collateral'
- When Nicole tried to leave, she said Mack told her, 'You can’t go back, it’s not an option'
- Raniere, 58, is on trial for racketeering, sex trafficking, forced labor and conspiracy; he has pleaded not guilty
- Mack has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges stemming from her role in DOS
A struggling actress from California testified that former Smallville star Allison Mack lured her into a master-slave sex club affiliated with NXIVM by painting it as a women's empowerment group and telling her she could play Wonder Woman.
'I wanted to be like Wonder Woman, I wanted to play that role,' the witness, a thin, dark-haired 31-year-old woman known only as Nicole, told the jury who will decide the fate of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere in New York City.
Over two days of testimony, Nicole recounted for the court how Mack, 36, allegedly coached her to write letters falsely accusing men in her life, including her own father, of sexual abuse.
She also said Mack ordered her to stop having sex with her actor boyfriend, and pressured her into being celibate for three months.
Nicole, a 31-year-old actress recruited by Allison Mack (picture in April) for the master-slave sex club DOS within NXIVM, testified that the TV star sold it to her as a women's empowerment group
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When Nicole began having second thoughts about joining the secret group known as DOS, or The Vow, she said Mack informed her that she could not back out.
'You can’t go back, it’s not an option. Like an arranged marriage,' Nicole said Mack wrote to her in an email.
Mack has pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges stemming from her role in DOS, the secret society within NXIVM consisting of women who prosecutors say were brainwashed by Raniere’s teachings, branded with his initials and pressured into having sex with him.
Raniere, 58, is being tried for racketeering, sex trafficking, forced labor and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
In the prosecution's opening statements delivered last month at the outset of the trial, Nicole was said to have been strapped to a table, blindfolded and subjected to forced oral sex performed on her by a female 'slave,' reported Albany Times-Union.
Nicole testified that it all began in February 2016, when she met up with Mack at The Ace Hotel in Manhattan to talk.
She knew the TV star from an acting class she had taken in April 2015 at the suggestion of her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Canadian actor Mark Hildreth.
Nicole testified as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of self-help guru and NXIVM leader Keith Raniere (depicted in a courtroom sketch on May 7)
The class, called The Source, was developed by Raniere and led by Mack, reported Courthouse News.
Nicole said she paid thousands of dollars to the program, but was weary of the idolization of Raniere and regarded his followers' claim that he was the smartest man in the world as 'just bulls***.'
Nicole said she first came in contact with Raniere and Mack in April 2015, when her then-boyfriend, actor Mark Hildreth (pictured), encouraged her to take an acting class run by NXIVM called The Source
Nicole, a transplant from California, was feeling depressed by the New York winter and lack of acting jobs, and confided in Mack during their February meeting she was having suicidal thoughts.
According to her testimony, Mack suggested she join a women's empowerment group, which she described as 'really cool,' to turns things around in her life.
'I think [I agreed to join] because I wanted something to be hopeful for, and I thought maybe what she was talking about would help,' the witness said.
Nicole noted that Mack had made no mention that the leader of the group was Raniere. '
'It's a women's empowerment group, so if a man had been running the thing it doesn't make sense,' she told the jury. 'I wouldn't have been interested.'
Nicole broke down in tears on the stand recounting how she agreed to furnish Mack with 'collateral' in the form of letters containing bogus allegations of sexual misconduct against her father, and additional false claims casting blame on her mother and an ex-boyfriend.
A month after joining DOS, Nicole said she began having doubts when Mack gave her three assignments, the first of which was to stop having sex with Hildreth.
Nicole said Mack made no mention that the leader of the group DOS was Raniere (pictured)
The second assignment was to be celibate for three months. When Nicole later met a 'cute boy' and gave him her number, she said Mack grew angry at her and accused her of violating her orders.
At that point, Nicole said she decided to leave DOS, but Mack told her should could not break her commitment.
Her third assignment, revealed to her a week later, was to 'reach out to' Raniere' over Facebook, according to witness testimony.
'How do you get the attention of the smartest man in the world??' Mack wrote to Nicole.
The witness is expected to resume testimony on Friday as Raniere's trial, currently in its fifth week, continues.
