Social media influencer Braden Peters, known online as "Clavicular,"
Social media influencer Braden Peters, known online as "Clavicular,"

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'Looksmaxxing' Influencer Known as 'Clavicular' Is Charged With Raping a Teenage Girl at Family's Cape Cod

BOSTON — Social media influencer Braden Peters, known online as "Clavicular," has been criminally charged in Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family's Cape Cod home, according to court records reviewed by multiple news organizations.

Peters, 20, faces one count of rape, one count of administering a substance for sexual intercourse and one count of procuring alcohol for a person under 21, stemming from an alleged incident on May 23, 2025, in Chatham, Massachusetts. A clerk-magistrate found probable cause for the charges on September 4, and a criminal complaint was formally issued on September 8. The rape and drugging charges are felonies under Massachusetts law, while the alcohol-procurement charge is a misdemeanor.

According to the criminal complaint, the accuser told investigators she began communicating with Peters on Instagram, and that the two developed an online working relationship after he offered to help build her social media presence, later paying her to appear in "looksmaxxing" videos he streamed online. The complaint states that Peters arranged transportation for her to travel to his family's residence in Chatham, a seaside town at the southeastern tip of Cape Cod, where she was greeted by his mother and grandmother upon arrival before going to his bedroom, where the two livestreamed together while drinking alcohol. According to a police report, the accuser said Peters knew she was 17 years old but instructed her to tell viewers of the livestream that she was 18 and that the vodka he had given her was actually water.

Peters, who lives in Florida and has not been taken into custody, is scheduled to be arraigned in Orleans District Court on October 14. His publicist did not immediately respond to requests for comment from multiple news outlets following the charges becoming public. A representative for Peters, in a statement obtained by NBC News, downplayed initial reporting on the charges and claimed Peters had not yet been formally served with an arrest warrant at the time.

Andrew Moss, an attorney representing the teenager, offered a brief statement when asked for comment. "We are not commenting at this time since the proper authorities are handling this," Moss said.

The criminal charges follow a civil lawsuit filed against Peters in Florida earlier this year, which was later amended in June to include allegations of sexual battery tied to the same Cape Cod encounter described in the criminal complaint. That lawsuit separately alleges Peters later injected the accuser with a fat-dissolving substance during a subsequent livestream without her consent. The four-count civil complaint includes allegations of battery, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress and unauthorized use of the accuser's name and likeness. It remains unclear from currently available court documents whether the woman named in the civil lawsuit is the same individual identified as the accuser in the criminal case, though a police report reviewed by The New York Times indicates the criminal charges stem from the same May 2025 incident described in the civil filing.

Peters' attorneys have denied the allegations underlying the civil lawsuit, stating in a July court filing that the encounter was consensual and characterizing the lawsuit as an attempt to generate publicity. Peters has separately denied the criminal allegations, reposting images and videos on social platform X that he said documented his interactions with the accuser as part of his public response to the charges.

Peters built a substantial online following as the most prominent public face of "looksmaxxing," an online trend focused on pursuing traditional physical attractiveness through often extreme methods. The practice traces its origins to the "involuntary celibate," or "incel," online subculture, a community made up primarily of men who believe society unfairly denies them romantic or sexual attention. Peters livestreams his daily activities on a near-continuous basis, frequently broadcasting from parties, clubs and social outings, drawing his largest followings on TikTok, Instagram and the streaming platform Kick, where he has amassed more than 400,000 followers.

This is not the only legal matter Peters has faced in recent months. He was arrested in Florida in March on a battery charge connected to a separate incident that occurred in February, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, which said it conducted its own investigation into that alleged battery.

If convicted on the rape charge in Massachusetts, Peters could face a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, according to reporting on the case. The charges against Peters were first publicly reported by The Bulwark on Monday, ahead of broader coverage by national outlets including The Associated Press, CBS News and NBC News.

With Peters' arraignment scheduled for next month and the parallel civil lawsuit still pending in Florida, the case is likely to continue drawing scrutiny both for its legal proceedings and for its implications within the broader online "looksmaxxing" community that Peters helped popularize.

BOSTON — Social media influencer Braden Peters, known online as "Clavicular," has been criminally charged in Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family's Cape Cod home, according to court records reviewed by multiple news organizations.

Peters, 20, faces one count of rape, one count of administering a substance for sexual intercourse and one count of procuring alcohol for a person under 21, stemming from an alleged incident on May 23, 2025, in Chatham, Massachusetts. A clerk-magistrate found probable cause for the charges on September 4, and a criminal complaint was formally issued on September 8. The rape and drugging charges are felonies under Massachusetts law, while the alcohol-procurement charge is a misdemeanor.

According to the criminal complaint, the accuser told investigators she began communicating with Peters on Instagram, and that the two developed an online working relationship after he offered to help build her social media presence, later paying her to appear in "looksmaxxing" videos he streamed online. The complaint states that Peters arranged transportation for her to travel to his family's residence in Chatham, a seaside town at the southeastern tip of Cape Cod, where she was greeted by his mother and grandmother upon arrival before going to his bedroom, where the two livestreamed together while drinking alcohol. According to a police report, the accuser said Peters knew she was 17 years old but instructed her to tell viewers of the livestream that she was 18 and that the vodka he had given her was actually water.

Peters, who lives in Florida and has not been taken into custody, is scheduled to be arraigned in Orleans District Court on October 14. His publicist did not immediately respond to requests for comment from multiple news outlets following the charges becoming public. A representative for Peters, in a statement obtained by NBC News, downplayed initial reporting on the charges and claimed Peters had not yet been formally served with an arrest warrant at the time.

Andrew Moss, an attorney representing the teenager, offered a brief statement when asked for comment. "We are not commenting at this time since the proper authorities are handling this," Moss said.

The criminal charges follow a civil lawsuit filed against Peters in Florida earlier this year, which was later amended in June to include allegations of sexual battery tied to the same Cape Cod encounter described in the criminal complaint. That lawsuit separately alleges Peters later injected the accuser with a fat-dissolving substance during a subsequent livestream without her consent. The four-count civil complaint includes allegations of battery, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress and unauthorized use of the accuser's name and likeness. It remains unclear from currently available court documents whether the woman named in the civil lawsuit is the same individual identified as the accuser in the criminal case, though a police report reviewed by The New York Times indicates the criminal charges stem from the same May 2025 incident described in the civil filing.

Peters' attorneys have denied the allegations underlying the civil lawsuit, stating in a July court filing that the encounter was consensual and characterizing the lawsuit as an attempt to generate publicity. Peters has separately denied the criminal allegations, reposting images and videos on social platform X that he said documented his interactions with the accuser as part of his public response to the charges.

Peters built a substantial online following as the most prominent public face of "looksmaxxing," an online trend focused on pursuing traditional physical attractiveness through often extreme methods. The practice traces its origins to the "involuntary celibate," or "incel," online subculture, a community made up primarily of men who believe society unfairly denies them romantic or sexual attention. Peters livestreams his daily activities on a near-continuous basis, frequently broadcasting from parties, clubs and social outings, drawing his largest followings on TikTok, Instagram and the streaming platform Kick, where he has amassed more than 400,000 followers.

This is not the only legal matter Peters has faced in recent months. He was arrested in Florida in March on a battery charge connected to a separate incident that occurred in February, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, which said it conducted its own investigation into that alleged battery.

If convicted on the rape charge in Massachusetts, Peters could face a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, according to reporting on the case. The charges against Peters were first publicly reported by The Bulwark on Monday, ahead of broader coverage by national outlets including The Associated Press, CBS News and NBC News.

With Peters' arraignment scheduled for next month and the parallel civil lawsuit still pending in Florida, the case is likely to continue drawing scrutiny both for its legal proceedings and for its implications within the broader online "looksmaxxing" community that Peters helped popularize.