[World] Nxivm cult: US actor Allison Mack released early from prison

US actor Allison Mack has been released from prison early after serving two years for her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to a cult-like group.

The 40-year-old pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in April 2019 related to her efforts to recruit women to the Nxivm sex cult.

Mack, best known for her role in the television series Smallville, was sentenced to three years in prison.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed she had been released on Monday.

Nxivm, pronounced "nexium", started in 1998 as a self-help programme. It claims to have worked with more than 16,000 people including the son of a former Mexican president and Hollywood actresses such as Mack.

Prosecutors say Mack helped recruit and groom women as sexual partners for the group's leader, Keith Raniere. Though Raniere, 62, was at the top of this structure and the only man, Mack served as one of his top female deputies.

Female recruits were allegedly branded with his initials and expected to have sex with him in exchange for becoming a part of the group, which was based in Albany, New York.

The news of Mack's release was initially reported by the New York newspaper Albany Times Union.

Mack, who was arrested in 2018, was facing as much as 17 years in prison but saw her sentence reduced after providing evidence to help prosecutors pursue their case against Raniere.

In 2020, he was sentenced to 120 years in prison for multiple crimes, including forcing women to be his sexual "slaves".

Before her sentencing, Mack apologised to those she said had been harmed by her actions, calling her involvement with the group "the biggest mistake and regret of my life".

"I am sorry to those of you that I brought into Nxivm," she said. "I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man."