'Smallville' star arrested by FBI for ties to secretive sex-trafficking cult

An actress best known for her role on the Superman-themed series "Smallville" has been arrested by the FBI for her alleged role as a recruiter in a secretive "sex cult" that reportedly trafficked women.

Washington's NBC4 reported Friday that actress Allison Mack was arrested and will appear in federal court in Brooklyn later in the day in relation to the government's case against Keith Raniere, the co-founder of the "Nxivm" (pronounced "Nexium") cult.

Billed as a self-help group, Nxivm, under Raniere's alleged lead, included a "barbaric system in which women were told the best way to advance was to become a 'slave' overseen by 'masters.'"

Female members, who were reportedly branded, "also were expected to have sex with him and do menial chores for masters, and to keep the arrangement a secret or be publicly humiliated," the federal complaint against Raniere, who was arrested in Mexico and extradited to Texas last month, reads.

Mack's fellow "Smallville" star Kristin Kreuk was also accused of using her celebrity to recruit women into the cult — a claim she denied in a Twitter post last month.