Influencer Braden "Clavicular" Peters charged with rape of 17-year-old on Cape Cod

Social media influencer Braden Peters, 20, faces three criminal counts in Massachusetts after a minor accused him of rape. Peters denies the allegations.

Rape charges filed against looksmaxxing influencer Braden Peters in Massachusetts court

Braden Peters, a 20-year-old social media influencer known online as "Clavicular," has been charged with rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring and providing alcohol to a person under 21, according to court records obtained by NPR National. The charges stem from an alleged incident on May 23, 2025, involving a 17-year-old girl.

The case was filed in Orleans District Court on Cape Cod, Mass., on Sept. 8, and was first reported by the online publication The Bulwark. Peters' arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.

Peters has built a following online through "looksmaxxing," a digital subculture centered on maximizing male physical appearance. He has amassed a significant social media presence across platforms.

What the court documents allege

A police narrative included in the court documents states that the victim began communicating with Peters on Instagram, where he paid her to appear on his livestreams to help her, in his words, "make her name known on social media."

On May 23, 2025, Peters allegedly arranged for the minor to travel to his home in Chatham, Mass. Once there, he allegedly instructed her to claim she was 18 during his videostream and to tell viewers that the vodka she was drinking on camera was water. The victim said she felt peer-pressured to drink and became noticeably intoxicated after a couple of drinks.

After the stream ended, Peters and the minor allegedly kissed on a couch before he had sex with her in his bedroom without her consent. The victim told investigators she did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam following the incident. NPR does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.

Denial from Peters' representative

NPR attempted to reach Peters at the phone number listed in the court documents but received an error message. In an email statement to NPR, Peters' representative Mitchell Jackson said Peters "denies the allegations."

Jackson also questioned the sequence of the plaintiff's legal filings. "She files a lawsuit and doesn't include sexual assault as a count. Then she amends it and adds it a couple of months later," Jackson wrote. "Clavicular then filed a motion to dismiss fighting the civil lawsuit because letter/text messages show she knew what was happening with the injections and he refused to pay money. She and her lawyer then go to police."

Parallel civil lawsuit in Florida

The same teenager had previously filed a civil lawsuit in April in Miami-Dade County, Florida, alleging battery, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unauthorized use of name and likeness. That complaint also included claims that Peters supplied her with alcohol and engaged in non-consensual sexual acts at his parents' Cape Cod home while she was a minor. Additionally, the Florida suit alleges that Peters injected her face with an unapproved fat-dissolving substance during a livestream.

Andrew Moss, the attorney representing the girl in the Miami case, confirmed that the plaintiff in both the Florida and Massachusetts proceedings is the same person.

Prior legal troubles

The Massachusetts charges are not Peters' first encounter with law enforcement.

In March, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office in Florida issued an arrest warrant after investigators determined Peters had instigated a physical altercation between two women at an Airbnb rental and posted footage of the fight online. He was taken into custody; the charges were subsequently dropped.

In April, Peters was charged with unlawfully discharging a firearm after a viral video showed him and others shooting at a dead alligator from an airboat in the Florida Everglades.

Peters responds on social media

Peters has not released an official public statement regarding the Massachusetts charges. On social media platform X, however, he expressed contempt toward the plaintiff in a series of posts. "Trying to get my attention in any way possible, a lawsuit? Seriously… really petty of you," Peters wrote in one post. He also shared video footage in which a young woman, appearing to slur her words, tells Peters she is 18 years old when he asks her age.

Source: NPR National