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June 30 (UPI) -- Actress Allison Mack was sentenced three years in prison Wednesday for her involvement in NXIVM an alleged sex cult in New York. Mack, 36, was ordered to serve three years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and to pay a $20,000 fine after pleading guilty to charges of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy.
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Sentencing guidelines recommended a range of 14-17.5 years in prison for Mack but prosecutors asked U.S. Judge Nicholas Graufis to sentence her below the recommended range due to "substantial assistance" she provided during the investigation and prosecution of others involved in NXIVM.
Mack's attorneys had asked that she receive no prison time.
NXIVM was a women's self-health group in Albany that allegedly operated as a cult that recruited women to have sex with the group's leader, Keith Raniere, and blackmailed them using nude photos and personal information.
Mack rose to become a high-ranking leader of an all-women subgroup within NXIVM, known as DOS, and reported directly to Raniere to recruit women.
In a letter filed alongside her sentencing memo, Mack apologized to those harmed by her actions, describing her involvement with NXIVM as "the biggest mistake and regret of my life."
"I believed, whole-heartedly, that his mentorship was leading me to a better, more enlightened version of myself. I devoted my loyalty, my resources, and ultimately, my life to him," she said of Raniere.
Prosecutors said that she provided a recording of a conversation with Raniere discussing a ceremony in which women were branded with his initials that served as a piece of "crucial" evidence used in Raniere's trial.
Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison in October after he was convicted on one count each of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking.
