On Monday, former Smallville actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges related to her role in NXIVM. At Federal District Court in Brooklyn, she took responsibility for recruiting women into group, led by Keith Raniere. The Albany-based organization billed itself as a self-help organization, with workshops and classes promising members self-fulfillment.

Mack, 36, reportedly became so entrenched in NXIVM, that federal prosecutors said she recruited others into another secret sect within the group, where women were branded and forced to have sex with Raniere. According to The New York Times, officials believe she was one of Raniere’s second in commands at NXIVM.

She reportedly told a judge that she was unsatisfied with her acting career and initially joined Nxivm to “find purpose.”

“I must take full responsibility for my conduct,” Mack said in court, according to the Times.

Her arrest last year was part of a larger federal case against members of NXIVM, including Raniere and four other high-ranking women. Here’s everything we know about Mack and the NXIVM trial so far.

Raniere was arrested in March 2018

Investigative journalist James M. Odato published a number of features in the Times Union of Albany in 2012 questioning NXIVM’s practices, but authorities didn’t make any arrests in the case for another six years.

Details about the DOS, a secret group within NXIVM, were brought to light in an October 2017 article in The New York Times, which detailed how female members were allegedly branded, referred to as “slaves,” and subjected to corporal punishment. Five months later, Raniere was arrested by federal officials in Mexico on sex-trafficking charges.

According to a complaint, his followers allegedly feared compromising material they provided to him about themselves would be released if they did not have sex with him.

CBS reports that court filings claim Raniere, who went by “Vanguard,” created the “DOS,” an acronym for a Latin phrase that loosely translates to “Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions,” or “The Vow.” The filings allege that DOS had levels of women “slaves” headed by “masters” in a pyramid scheme, with Raniere as top master and Mack as second in command.

Mack was charged with sex trafficking in April 2018

One month after Raniere was charged, Mack was arrested and indicted on similar charges. In a statement, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard P. Donoghue said Mack helped gain recruits for NXIVM, who were allegedly branded with Raniere’s initials.

“Ms. Mack was one of the top members of a highly organized scheme which was designed to provide sex to [Raniere],” assistant US attorney Moira Penza said in court, according to The Guardian. “Under the guise of female empowerment, she starved women until they fit her co-defendant’s sexual feminine ideal.”

“These slaves said Mack was incredibly intimidating, cruel and punitive,” a source close to two former DOS members told The Hollywood Reporter last May.

A plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf.

She was released on $5 million bond

On April 24, Mack was released from jail on a $5 million bond. According to Buzzfeed, her parents, Melinda and Jonathan Mack, put up their home in Los Alamitos, California, to help secure a bond. Mack also put up her home. She was put under house arrest.

A judge reportedly told Mack she was not to associate with anyone from NXIVM. “In other words, basically avoid anyone you know who has associated in any way with NXIVM. Do you understand?” Pohorelsky reportedly said.

In May 2018, Raniere pleaded not guilty

After the hearing, Raniere’s lawyers insisted that “everything was consensual.”

“There are well-known groups of men who brand themselves,” attorney Marc Agnifilo said, according to NBC News. “A group of women do that and suddenly they’re victims.” When pressed further about the branding allegations, he replied, “I’m not qualified to say what is normal.”

Four new defendants were arrested

Just two months after Raniere plead not guilty, Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagram liquor fortune, was among several people charged with conspiracy and criminal racketeering. According to The New York Times, Bronfman “served in recent years as Mr. Raniere’s legal Torquemada, financing and aggressively pursuing long-running lawsuits against Nxvim’s enemies, both real and perceived.”

She was accused of “identity theft in order to access other people’s computers; of money laundering to abet the entry of an alien into the United States; and of improperly paying off the credit card of Mr. Raniere’s dead girlfriend, so that he could continue to use it after her death,” according to The New York Times.

Nancy Salzman, who co-founded NXIVM with Raniere in the 1990s, was also accused of two illegal acts. According to USA Today, she was accused of stealing email passwords of NXIVM critics and altering tapes of herself teaching courses before turning them over for use in a lawsuit against Rick Ross, a defector who helped followers leave. She pleaded guilty to a single charge of racketeering conspiracy and is due for sentencing in July 2019.

Her daughter, Lauren Salzman, reportedly admitted to having a minor role in NXIVM. She’s seeking a separate trial, according to The New York Post.

In March 2019, Raniere was hit with additional charges

On March 14, Raniere (already facing forced labor, wire fraud conspiracy, human trafficking, and sex trafficking charges) was charged with possession of child pornography.

According to Rolling Stone, federal prosecutors brought the new charges, claiming they had evidence Raniere engaged in a relationship with a 15-year-old girl, who reportedly sent images to Raniere “constituting child pornography.” According to Rolling Stone, the prosecutors purportedly have “electronic communications between the victim and Raniere reflecting their sexual relationship and indicating that it began when she was fifteen years old.”

Raniere was allegedly in a relationship with another 15-year-old girl, which prosecutors believe Mack and Bronfman both knew about, Rolling Stone reports.

Mack reversed her initial not guilty plea

On Monday, she appeared in black slacks and a sweater at the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. She pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and racketeering.

Mack said she is prepared to take responsibility for her actions. “I have come to the conclusion that I must take full responsibility for my conduct and that’s why I am pleading guilty today,” she said in court, according to the New York Post. “I’m very sorry for the victims of this case. I’m very sorry for who I’ve hurt though my misguided adherence to Keith Raniere’s teachings.”

She admitted to her involvement with DOS, saying she had a slave and that she instructed women “to perform services for me,” by threatening that they “could face serious harm,” according to the New York Post. Mack reportedly said the women indeed gave damaging personal information, like nude images and financial records as collateral.

The plea means Mack will avoid going to trial with Raniere, Bronfman and another NXIVM member, Kathy Russell. All have pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Mack is scheduled to be sentenced on September 11

She will face a maximum of 20 years in prison, according to The New York Daily News.

The NXIVM trial is set to begin later this month

Raniere is a defendant in the case. A federal judge has ruled that the jury hearing evidence against members of the alleged sex cult will be anonymous and “semi-sequestered.”

Opening statements are scheduled for April 29.

It’s unclear whether Mack will cooperate with prosecutors ahead of his trial.