A SECRETIVE organisation which is alleged to brand women and blackmail them into staying in the group has been revealed.
Hollywood actresses are said to be involved in the controversial group - but what do we know about the so-called cult, its leader and its members?
Getty Images Actress Allison Mack is allegedly a high ranking member of the secretive NXIVM DOS cult
Who is Allison Mack?
She is a former Smallville actress, where she played Chloe Sullivan.
The 35-year-old is also a producer and director.
She was born in Germany but moved back to the US when she was two years old.
She has appeared in multiple films and TV series including TV shows, Wilfred and The Following.
What is the NXIVM DOS?
NXIVM claims to be a self-help group which gives classes and seminars that help clients on a path of personal and professional development.
There is a training system, where students refer to founder Keith Raniere as "founder".
It is said more than 12,000 people have signed up for classes between 1998 and 2010.
The cult is called DOS, believed to be short for “dominus obsequious sororium" - Latin for the “master over the slave women”, and is the dark side of so-called "self-help" group NXIVM, according to Frank Partlato, the group's former publicist.
Personal information and pictures are said to be collected as part of the initiation.
Branding is also said to be used some members - reportedly dubbed "slaves".
In one shocking email seen by Sun Online, slaves are told to fast for 12 hours a day, take cold showers and perform a "daily act to honour" their master.
Earlier NXIVM put out a statement saying: "The allegations relayed in the story are built upon sources, some of which are under criminal investigation or already indicted, who act as a coordinated group.”
They added: "We will explore any and all legal remedies to correct these lies."
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What is Allison Mack alleged to do in the group?
The actress is allegedly a "master" in the cult and must obey orders from leader Raniere.
She allegedly has to find bed partners for him, run 40 miles a week and keep a strict diet to stay as skinny as possible.
Sun Online put all the allegations to Mack's publicist who replied: "Allison is passing on all press inquiries at this time."
On March 29 it was reported that Mack's arrest for alleged "sex trafficking" is said to be imminent after accused cult leader Rainere was detained this week.
She was seen in video of the moments after Raniere was arrested, which was leaked to The Sun Online.
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A former television star was among those who chased down officers after they took away cult leader Keith Raniere in the Mexican resort village of Puerto Vallarta over the weekend.
Video that was first obtained by Art Voice shows Smallville actress Allison Mack in a state of disbelief as officials arrest Raniere, four months after he crossed the border following the launch of a federal probe.
The women can then be heard saying that they are going to get into a car and follow the officers.
A local authority tells DailyMail.com that the women then engaged in a high-speed car chase with police.
The 57-year-old leader of the secretive New York-based group called NXIVM was taken into custody by Mexican authorities after he was found surrounded by a group of women at a $10,000-a-week luxury villa on Sunday.
Raniere was extradited to Fort Worth, Texas on Monday and charged with sex trafficking and forced labor conspiracy.
Detained: Video has been released of Mexican authoroities arresting NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere (above in the back of Mexican police vehicle) at a luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta
On the run: A group of women that includes Smallville actress Allison Mack (above) chases after the police car after it leaves the $10,000-a-week property
South of the border: Mack posted a photo of herself at a coffee shop in Mexico earlier this month
An individual with former ties to NXIVM tells DailyMail.com that Mack was joined in the video by a group of women including actress Nicki Clyne and high-profile members Lauren Salzman and Loreta Garza.
The same source described Mack as Raniere's right-hand woman at NXIVM.
The actress only recently traveled down to Mexico however, with her social media showing her in the area for just the past month.
The group, which has been described by former members as a 'sex cult', claims to be a self-help organization that operates centers in US, Mexico, Canada and South America.
It emerged last year that the Dalai Lama was paid $1 million to speak to 3,000 NXIVM followers and place a khata - a traditional ceremonial Tibetan scarf - around Raniere's neck.
Raniere left the US last year after the New York Times reported that some women who joined a group in his organization had been branded with a symbol that included his initials.
The women told investigators they were subjected to 'master-slave' conditions that involved physical punishments for disobeying orders.
'As alleged in the complaint, Keith Raniere created a secret society of women whom he had sex with and branded with his initials, coercing them with the threat of releasing their highly personal information and taking their assets,' US attorney Richard P. Donoghue said.
The complaint says Raniere founded NXIVM about 20 years ago and held a series of purported self-help workshops.
Since NXIVM's creation, Raniere has maintained poly-amorous relationships with its members, according to the complaint.
Courses associated with the group costs thousands of dollars each and participants are encouraged to pay for additional classes and to recruit others in order to rise within the ranks of NXIVM.
According to the complaint, Raniere created a secret society within Nxivm called DOS in 2015, which loosely translated to 'Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions', or 'The Vow'.
Sex cult leader Keith Raniere, 57, was taken into custody by Mexican authorities and deported back to the US after he was found at a luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta on Sunday
Many DOS slaves were branded on their pelvic areas using a cauterizing pen with a symbol which, unbeknownst to them, incorporated Raniere's initials, according to past members
Former Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg had previously met with prosecutors in New York to detail her daughter India's experience in the group
DOS operated with levels of women slaves headed by masters and most were recruited from within NXIVM's ranks.
When new DOS slaves were recruited, they were required to provide collateral, which included highly damaging information about friends and family members, nude photographs and/or rights to the recruit's assets.
The complaint says DOS slaves feared that their collateral could be released by the group if they left.
Many DOS slaves were branded on their pelvic areas using a cauterizing pen with a symbol which, unbeknownst to them, incorporated Raniere's initials, according to the court documents.
During the branding ceremonies, slaves were required to be fully naked and a master would order one slave to film the branding while the others restrained the slave being branded.
Smallville actress Allison Mack was considering a high-ranking member of the cult and was believed to have been second in charge to Raniere.
Former Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg had previously met with prosecutors in New York to detail her daughter's experience in the group.
Oxenberg, through her lawyers at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss, said she hoped Raniere's arrest would go as far as reuniting her with her daughter.
'I want to help all the young women affected by this cult. They are the victims of human trafficking, which is slavery,' she said.
'For months, I have worked to expose Keith Raniere and Nxivm and today's arrest vindicates my efforts.
'I want my daughter to know I love her and that I want her back in my life.'
If convicted, Raniere could be sentenced to life in prison.
'As alleged, Keith Raniere displayed a disgusting abuse of power in his efforts to denigrate and manipulate women he considered his sex slaves,' FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney said.
'He allegedly participated in horrifying acts of branding and burning them, with the cooperation of other women operating within this unorthodox pyramid scheme.
'These serious crimes against humanity are not only shocking, but disconcerting to say the least, and we are putting an end to this torture today.'
NXIVM Founder Keith Raniere talks about 'authenticity' in an interview with Allison Mack. Courtesy: Keith Raniere Conversations
SMALLVILLE actress Allison Mack and Battlestar Galactica alum Nicki Clyne reportedly chased after a police car carrying Keith Raniere when the alleged cult leader was arrested in Mexico on charges of running a violent sex cult.
Now, Mack is reportedly the next in line to be arrested.
An emaciated and frenzied-looking Mack can be seen in mobile phone footage, obtained by Frank Parlato of the Frank Report, of Raniere’s arrest. (Parlato used to do PR for the alleged cult before starting a website to expose them).
“Allison Mack expected to be arrested next,” he wrote in artvoice.com, saying she is an unnamed co-conspirator in the Raniere case.
“She started as a slave and she became a slave master,” Parlato claims. “Her nickname among defectors is ‘Pimp Mack.’”
A woman believed to be fellow actress Clyne is reportedly heard in the video saying “We’re going to follow them. Let’s go, you guys.” after Raniere is arrested.
Raniere was arrested while on the run in his $10,000-a-week Mexican villa this week.
Raniere has been charged with sex trafficking from within a so-called self-help group called NXIVM (pronounced nexium).
Within that group there is reportedly a secret society called DOS or The Vow, which Mack and Clyne are said to be a part of, in which women become sex slaves and have Raniere and Mack’s initials (KR and AM) branded above their genitalia.
Sarah Edmonson, told The New York Times, she was held down by a number of women and branded after being made to say “Master please brand me, it would be an honour.”
Founded by Raniere in 1998, NXIVM offers “programs that provide the philosophical and practical foundation necessary to acquire and build the skills for success, it’s website reads.
Based in Albany, New York, around 160,000 joined the group led by Raniere, who is known within its circles as “Vanguard”, including Mack, Clyne and Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg’s daughter, India.
HOW ACTRESS BECAME INVOLVED IN CULT
Mack was reportedly introduced to the self-help group around 2006 by her Smallville co-star
Kristin Kreuk, the New York Post reports
Kreuk, who portrayed the young Superman’s love interest, Lana Lang, signed up, but got out before female acolytes began getting forcibly branded.
“Kreuk had come first, sometime around late 2005, early 2006,” said Frank Parlato, who first broke the story, in June, of women being forcibly branded as part of the NXIVM “sorority.”
“Kreuk brought in Allison” soon afterwards, said Parlato.
Mack played Clark Kent’s starry-eyed blond pursuer, Chloe Sullivan.
“Allison was used, as was Kristen, as a lure to bring in other women because of their celebrity status,” he said.
Kreuk severed ties with the group in 2012, soon after the Albany Times Union wrote of allegations that Raniere had sex with underage girls.
But Mack stayed on and, according to Parlato, helped come up with the idea of sizzling the “brand” into initiates’ skin, near their groins, as they were held down.
“Kreuk was also in the inner circle, but branding was a later addition to Raniere’s abuse of women,” Parlato said.
Spokespeople for Kreuk and Mack did not respond to requests for comment.
