British Transport Police charge U.S. influencer in London assault case

British Transport Police charged U.S. influencer Melissa Rein Lively and her partner, German national Philipp Ostermann, after an incident at Bond Street Underground station that police say involved racial abuse, a hair-pulling assault and a claim of pepper spray. Rein Lively, 40, was charged with assault by beating. Ostermann, 37, was charged with two racially aggravated public-order offences and one further public-order offence.

Police said the Crown Prosecution Service authorized the charges in connection with the October 11, 2025, episode, which unfolded at about 7:30 p.m. at the central London station. Officers said the incident involved a woman traveling with her sister and two small children, one of them in a pushchair. A court list says the charges relate to two alleged victims.

According to BTP’s earlier account, the trouble began after the pushchair collided with the man and woman. Police said the man then allegedly shouted racial abuse, while the woman allegedly grabbed the victim’s hair. Officers also said the male suspect produced a bottle and claimed it was pepper spray. BTP said it had contacted the victim and her family and was keeping them updated.

The first hearing is set for May 20, 2026, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, putting a case that began on a London Tube platform into the criminal courts. The matter has drawn attention beyond the transport network because Rein Lively has built a public profile in conservative online politics. She founded America First PR, a public-relations and media firm that describes itself as conservative and anti-woke, and previously sought the White House spokesperson job in Donald Trump’s second administration, a role that went to Karoline Leavitt.

Ostermann was identified in reporting as an associate director at Aequita, a Munich-based private equity firm with offices in Tokyo and South Carolina. The charging decision now gives the case a sharper public-order and hate-crime dimension, with allegations rooted in a crowded station encounter but amplified by the defendants’ cross-border profiles and online notoriety.