TV actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty Monday to charges she was involved in a scheme to turn women into sex slaves for the spiritual leader of a cult-like upstate New York group, a development that came on the same day jury selection began for a federal trial in the case.
Mack, 36, wept as she admitted her crimes and apologized to the women who prosecutors say were exploited by Keith Raniere and the purported self-help group called NXIVM.
“I believed Keith Raniere’s intentions were to help people, and I was wrong,” Mack told a Brooklyn judge.
Mack – best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on the series “Smallville” – said that after months of reflection since her arrest, “I know I can and will be a better person.”
The actress is to be sentenced Sept. 11 on two racketeering counts that each carry maximum terms of 20 years in prison. However, it’s likely she would face far less time under sentencing guidelines.
The plea means Mack will avoid going to trial with Raniere, wealthy heiress Clare Bronfman and another member of Raniere’s inner circle, Kathy Russell. All have pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
About two hours after Mack’s guilty plea, potential jurors got their first glimpse of the jailed Raniere at a proceeding where they were instructed on questionnaires to be filled out as a first step in the selection process. Opening statements are scheduled for April 29 for a trial that is expected to last up to six weeks.
From The Daily Caller
……There are over 22 million victims of human trafficking according to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Corruption UNODC.
Human trafficking is a crime committed by adult men and women in the United States and abroad.
In a typical human trafficking case a trafficker, usually an adult, lures or coerces an underage child (boy or girl) for sex. There is usually a promise of money, job or gift. The victim is locked up or in some way detained and forced to have sex for money.
Transportation across state lines or travel to another country is not necessary for a charge of human trafficking against a child to be brought against an individual.
Websites selling and exploiting children for sex online, such as Backpage.com, shut down and seized, in 2018, also facilitate human trafficking and the exploitation of children.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the law enforcement agency viewed over 25 million images of sexually exploited children online.
It is high time that Hollywood together with the government of the United States put an end to human trafficking and child sexual exploitation. It is an economic necessity and a moral imperative.
Don’t bet on it. Politicians and Hollywood are two of the worst depraved, amoral, corrupt entities on the planet.
Bubba Clinton and well-known celebrities cavorted with pedophile Jeffery Epstein, and made numerous trips to his island.
Robert Mueller’s FBI gave Epstein a light sentence in spite of his years of child sex abuse. The lawyer who fought to keep Epstein’s records sealed, worked for reprobates Mueller and James Comey.
Harvey Weinstein’s record of sexual assaults has been a known fact in Hollywood for years, yet it was never broadcast until now. There’s more Weinsteins in Hollywood. He’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The crimes of sexual predators in Hollywood, the media and Congress, are disturbing and all too frequent.