Years after Smallville star Allison Mack was arrested and charged with crimes related to her involvement with the cult NXIVM, her former co-star Tom Welling commented on the ordeal. Welling appeared at Fan Expo Vancouver over the weekend, during which he made a joke about Mack, per Comicbook.com. Mack was arrested in 2019 and later sentenced to three years in prison for her role as the second in command of Keith Raniere’s NXIVM cult.
During the panel, Welling was asked about a project that he and former Smallville co-star Michael Rosenbaum were developing. The two actors have been developing an animated follow-up to the Clark Kent-fronted series for some time now. While Welling named a number of actors who he hopes would come back for the project, Mack wasn’t on the list. He said, when it comes to Mack, “It might be tough to get Allison.”
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As previously mentioned, Welling’s comment comes a few years after Mack was first arrested. In 2019, she was arrested and charged with racketeering and racketeering conspiracy, which she pled guilty to. Mack apologized during the hearing to the victims associated with the NXIVM cult, which was billed as offering “self-help” classes but, in reality, manipulated and abused customers. She stated, “I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM. I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man.” Mack’s attorneys also released a statement, which read, “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. Ms. Mack now understands that this was the best thing that could have happened to her at that time.”
After pleading guilty, Mack helped the government formulate its case against Raniere, NXIVM’s leader and the “twisted man” whom she referenced in her apology. Raniere was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 120 years in prison. Mack received her own sentencing in June 2021: three years in prison. When she is released, she will spend three years on supervised probation. At the time, it was also determined that Mack would pay a $20,000 fine. She reported to prison in September 2021, per the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California.
