In 2021, Mack was sentenced to three years.
On her new podcast Infamous: Inside America’s Biggest Scandals, Grigoriadis plays the interviews for the first time which were conducted at NXIVM’s secret hideout in Mexico.
“I moved to Albany to fill that emptiness and find the soul of myself again, if that makes sense, as it had fizzled,” Mack says (NXIVM’s headquarters was there in New York.) “I asked Keith if he would help me become a great actress again because I felt like I was a fraud.”
Raniere co-founded NXIVM in 1998 and touted the organization as a self-improvement group. It attracted a number of famous and wealthy members, like Mack. The actress rose in the ranks and became one of Raniere’s closest confidants, recruiting women to join the cultlike group. Within NXIVM was a secret sorority composed of “slaves” and “masters.” Mack enlisted some of the “slaves” to engage in sexual acts with Raniere, according to statements from some of the women. Victims were branded with Mack and Raniere’s initials.
Mack admitted friends were concerned that she was “brainwashed” and involved in a cult.
“Ultimately, I just sat down and I like looked at my life and I looked at my relationships and I looked at all of the things I had written, journals that I had kept — things that I had done over the last few years. And it was so consistently good,” she explained.
Mack ultimately took responsibility for her role in NXIVM’s illegal operation. In 2019, she pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and racketeering as part of a deal with prosecutors.
Mack apologized to “those of you that I brought into NXIVM.”
Mack added, “I have experienced overwhelming shame as I have worked to accept and understand all that went on and all that I chose.”
The actress also apologized to family and friends who tried “to show me the truth about NXIVM and Keith, but I didn’t listen.”
Mack faced a maximum of 40 years in prison, 20 years on each count, but was only given three as she helped prosecutors with their case against Raniere. He was sentenced to 120 years behind bars, which an appeals court just upheld.
