Looksmaxxing influencer charged with sexual assault and drugging in Massachusetts. But his representative says there’s more to the story

Braden Peters, the 20-year-old internet personality known online as Clavicular, has been criminally charged with rape in Massachusetts, adding another serious legal problem to the growing controversy surrounding the prominent “looksmaxxing” influencer.

According to NBC News, state prosecutors filed the criminal charges at a Cape Cod courthouse on Sept. 8, 2026. Peters is facing three charges: one count of rape, one count of drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and one count of procuring liquor for someone under the age of 21.

The alleged offenses reportedly took place on May 23, 2025, at a residence on Cape Cod. The criminal filings do not name the alleged victim, in accordance with Massachusetts privacy laws covering sexual violence cases. However, the date and location appear to line up with an ongoing civil lawsuit filed against Peters earlier this year in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

The defense, response and impending arraignment

In that April civil lawsuit, teenage content creator Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, 18, who is known online as “Alorah Ziva,” accused Peters of battery. She alleged that Peters arranged for her to travel to Cape Cod, provided her with vodka, and engaged in sexual activity with her while she was intoxicated. Court records have not formally established that the civil allegations and the new criminal charges involve the same incident.

According to the civil filing, Mendoza alleged that Peters gave her excessive amounts of alcohol after she arrived at the Cape Cod estate, even though she was still a minor at the time. She also accused him of injecting her during a live internet stream with Aqualyx, an unapproved fat-dissolving compound, without her explicit consent. She further alleged that Peters assaulted her while she was heavily intoxicated and asleep.

The Massachusetts court records do not explicitly connect the criminal charges to Mendoza’s civil lawsuit. Still, the matching dates and location have drawn attention to the possible connection. If convicted of the rape charge, Peters could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in state prison.

Peters’ representative, Mitchell Jackson, has pushed back against the accusations and the coverage surrounding them. Jackson described some of the media reporting as exaggerated and said Peters had not yet been physically served. His legal team maintains that Peters denies wrongdoing ahead of an anticipated October 2026 arraignment.

A history of growing legal and medical scandals

Peters has also addressed the allegations on his own social media accounts. He previously shared what he claimed were text messages exchanged with Mendoza after the alleged incident. Peters characterized the civil lawsuit as a fraudulent attempt by “evil” extortionists to target his financial wealth.

The influencer has a large online following, with more than 1.2 million followers on TikTok alone. His videos and posts have also generated tens of millions of views across YouTube and X.

The latest charges add another major complication to the public life of an influencer whose career has largely played out in front of an enormous online audience. Peters rose to prominence in the “looksmaxxing” space, a corner of social media built around appearance, attractiveness and self-improvement that has developed a particularly young audience.

For now, Peters faces both the criminal case in Massachusetts and the separate civil allegations in Florida. The Massachusetts case is expected to move forward with his anticipated arraignment in October, where the allegations against the 20-year-old influencer will ent