Braden Peters to face Cape Cod arraignment on rape, drugging charges

Florida teen’s separate suit alleges meth-laced injections, underage drinking

Clavicular, the 20-year-old influencer who helped fuel the rise of the extreme male appearance-improvement trend known as “looksmaxxing,” has been charged with rape and drug offenses in Massachusetts, according to legal documents seen by the Guardian. His real name is Braden Eric Peters. He has been scheduled for an October 14 arraignment on Cape Cod on felony counts of rape and drugging a person for sexual intercourse, plus a misdemeanor charge of providing liquor to a minor. The offenses are alleged to have taken place in Massachusetts in May 2025.

The charges were filed in Orleans district court on September 8 and a summons was issued the same day, the Guardian reported. A representative of Peters told multiple media outlets that Bulwark, the online news site that first reported the charges, was “exaggerating” the status of the case “to boost traffic” because, he said, the influencer had not been physically served.

It was not immediately clear whether the Massachusetts criminal case is connected to a separate lawsuit filed in Florida in April by a teenager who alleges Peters paid for an Uber to take her to a 2025 party at his parents’ home on Cape Cod, where, the lawsuit alleges, he plied her with vodka despite being under the legal drinking age and “to the point where she was unable to give consent,” and then had sex with her while she was passed out. The girl was 16 at the time of that alleged incident. The age of consent in Massachusetts is 16. The lawsuit, as reported by NBC6 South Florida, includes counts of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, and unauthorized publication of her name and likeness, but does not include a rape count.

Peters has not responded to the Massachusetts charges directly. He posted a message on X on Monday night accusing the teenager who filed the Florida lawsuit of “trying to get my attention in anyway possible, a lawsuit?” and calling her “petty.” The post included a photograph of a letter allegedly written by the teen — who has publicly identified herself — pledging “you have my loyalty 100%.”

According to the lawsuit, Peters initially paid her $1,000 and told her he wanted to make her “the female face of looksmaxxing,” but their relationship soured and went through several highs and lows. After ignoring her for six months afterwards, the lawsuit said, they rekindled their relationship to a point where Peters was paying her $15,000 a month as a social media promoter. But they fell out again and Peters began an online campaign to discredit her. The teen alleges that he subsequently injected her twice against her will with methamphetamine-laced Aqualyx, a fat-dissolving substance not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to melt fat around her cheeks and jawline.

Steven Kramer, Peters’ attorney in the Florida case, said in a statement at the time that his client “denies the claims and disputes the characterization of events.” Kramer said Peters would “vigorously defend himself” through the appropriate legal channels and would not make further comment.

Peters rose to prominence as a promoter of “looksmaxxing,” which analysts have described as a toxic pursuit by young men of altering or improving their facial looks and physiques using extreme measures such as “bone smashing” to achieve more chiseled jawlines, oral and plastic surgeries, and lip enhancement. The Guardian describes the trend as moving into the mainstream from its roots in what the Guardian characterizes as the misogynistic “incel” (involuntary celibate) community, and reports that the trend has an online following of millions. Mental health experts have blamed the trend for worsening self-esteem, depression, and social anxiety in teenage boys by linking romantic success to physical perfection.

The Massachusetts case is the latest in a series of recent legal problems for Peters, whose online following exceeds one million. The New York Times reported in February that he was earning more than $100,000 monthly from his livestreams. In March, he was charged in Florida with firearms offenses for allegedly shooting an already-dead alligator during a livestream; he pleaded no contest in exchange for six months’ probation and 20 hours of unpaid community service. The same month, he and a girlfriend, Violet Marie Lentz, 24, were arrested and charged with battery stemming from an alleged assault on a 19-year-old woman at a rented house in Kissimmee, Florida.