A US-based Maga influencer has admitted assaulting a woman at Bond Street tube station in London. Melissa Rein Lively, 40, founder of the 'anti-woke' America First Public Relations firm, accepted a conditional caution for the incident, which occurred on 11 October last year.
Westminster Magistrates' Court heard on Tuesday that Rein Lively pulled a woman's hair in a 'forceful manner' during an altercation at the station. She agreed to pay £910 in compensation to the victim, though the sum has not yet been paid and is due in July. A charge of assault by beating was withdrawn following the caution.
Prosecutor Lyndon Harris told the court that two sisters were walking towards the station with their children, one in a pushchair, when they noticed Rein Lively and a man, later identified as German national Philipp Ostermann, ahead of them. Rein Lively allegedly stumbled into the pushchair, prompting the woman pushing it to move back.
Rein Lively then grabbed one of the sisters by the hair and tugged it. The woman pulled Rein Lively's hair in return in an attempt to make her let go, the court heard. Ostermann, 37, pleaded not guilty to two racially aggravated public order offences and a further public order charge. He was freed on unconditional bail and is due to face trial in November.
