Glamorous Trump supporter who founded world's first 'anti-woke' PR agency says she was left 'devastated' at being 'falsely accused' over London racial hate crime incident

By CAROLINE GRAHAM, US EDITOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY Published: 10:01, 7 June 2026 | Updated: 10:12, 7 June 2026 The glamorous American founder of the world's first 'anti woke' PR agency last night told how being 'falsely accused' of a racial hate crime in London has left her 'devastated.' Melissa Rein Lively, 40, hit the headlines earlier this week after she accepted a conditional caution over the incident outside Bond Street tube station in Mayfair last October. British Transport Police agreed to drop the original charge of assault by beating in exchange for Ms. Rein Lively's plea - which amounted to an admission that a criminal offence took place - and her agreement to pay £910 to her victim. The blonde businesswoman was walking back to her hotel alongside her fiance, German financier Philipp Ostermann, when the pair became involved in an altercation with sisters Sabba and Mariam Javed. Police claim Mr Ostermann, 37, allegedly racially abused the Javed sisters, shouting 'You bloody Indians, watch where you're going, you shouldn't be here.' Mr Ostermann has pleaded not guilty to two racially aggravated public order offences and one additional public order offence and will appear for trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court in November. Today, in her first interview about the incident which she claims has destroyed her reputation and cost her millions in lost business, Ms Rein Lively said she believes British Transport Police targeted her because she is a friend of President Donald Trump and was on the shortlist to become his official press spokeswoman before the job went to Karoline Leavitt. Melissa Rein Lively, 40, accepted a conditional caution over the incident outside Bond Street tube station in Mayfair last October The British Transport Police released a picture of Melissa Rein Lively and Philipp Ostermann last year, saying the force wished to speak to them in connection with a racial abuse incident Ms Rein Lively told The Mail on Sunday: 'I'm the founder and CEO of three PR companies that I built entirely from the ground up over the course of more than two decades. I am in a business where reputation is everything. 'I want the truth to come out because this has been devastating for me, my family and my businesses. 'I feel like there was pressure (within the police) to turn this into a symbolic or politically-charged case. In Britain now there is two-tier policing, two-tier justice. As soon as 'racism' is mentioned, well, I think you know…' She is planning to sue British Transport Police who, she alleges, pressed charges against her because of her well-publicised support for Mr Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda which led to her founding America First PR, the world's first 'anti-woke' PR firm which specialises in representing right-leaning companies and personalities. Ms Rein Lively was in London because her fiance, who works in private equity, was speaking at a conference. She had flown in from Miami, where she has a home, and Mr Ostermann arrived from Germany: 'We hadn't seen each other in a while so we arranged to meet in London. We went to the hotel in Mayfair and then for an early dinner to Cecconi's restaurant.' At around 7.30pm on October 11 the altercation took place as the couple walked back through affluent Mayfair to their hotel. According to police Ms Rein Lively and Mr Ostermann were drunk and stumbled into the Javed sisters, one of whom was pushing a baby in a wheelchair. Police reports claim a scuffle ensued during which Ms Rein Lively pulled the hair of one of the sisters 'in a forceful manner' before Mr Ostermann slurred the comment about the women being 'bloody Indians' and allegedly threatened them with pepper spray. Ms Rein Lively vehemently challenges the police account. Philipp Ostermann outside Westminster Magistrates Court after pleading not guilty to the charges against him Ms Rein Lively said she was on the shortlist to become Donald Trump's official press spokeswoman before the job went to Karoline Leavitt (pictured) Instead, she claims, she only reacted once she had been pushed and that was because she wrongly believed the sisters were part of a criminal gang who were trying to rob her. She admits pulling the hair of one of the sisters which is why she accepted the plea deal this week. She claims CCTV footage - which has yet to be made public - will back up her account. At this point it should be pointed out that Ms Rein Lively is not your typical American tourist. While she has been described by some as a 'MAGA influencer' - a description she hates and says is false - she has a strong online presence, largely in part to an incident that took place in 2020 at the height of the pandemic when she filmed herself pulling face masks off a supermarket display. That outburst made her a hero to many Trump supporters opposed to America's strict mask and lockdown laws but it also led to her receiving death threats. She told the MoS: 'My face was all over the internet. I was called 'MAGA Karen'. I got praise and threats in equal measure. 'Because of that I am very conscious and aware of my surroundings. 'When the incident occurred in London Philipp and I were walking down the street minding our own business. 'We noticed a group of six guys behind us and it made us nervous, like 'why are they following us?' 'The street is dark. Are they going to rob us? What's the deal here? 'They were walking very close behind. 'A minute or so later these two women started running down the street. 'In the back of my mind I'm thinking: 'Maybe they are running for the train?' because we were near the tube station. 'But then the other side of my brain is: 'Are we being targeted for a distraction theft? Are they going to rob us? 'There's six guys and then we hear these women running and we look back and the women roll up and they hit me with the stroller and my immediate reaction was: 'Oh my God, I'm being robbed!' Pictured: The couple together on a holiday to Venice The 40-year-old political consultant and founder of the 'anti-woke' America First PR firm admitted to yanking the woman's hair in what cops had pegged as a racially motivated attack While the Javed sisters and the police claim Ms Rein Lively and her fiance initiated the attack she insists that is simply not the case. 'The woman without the stroller grabbed my expensive handbag and essentially pulled it to the floor. 'I'm like 'Whoa, what's going on?' 'I grab my bag and then I grab her hair and she grabs my hair. 'The whole thing happened so fast. 'This entire incident lasted maybe a minute and 30 seconds.' At just 5ft 2in tall she says her 6ft 5in 'extremely protective' fiance tried to diffuse the situation. 'The original complaint had a claim (that Philipp had) pepper spray. That was 100 per cent a complete lie, a complete fabrication. 'I've seen the CCTV because it's in the evidence file for the case and there is no pepper spray. If anyone had been pepper-sprayed it would have been obvious. The women would have been grabbing their eyes, would be screaming, would be running. 'Philipp has not been charged in relation to any pepper spray.' She insists that her 'gentlemanly' lover would never make a racist remark. 'I don't remember exactly what was said but it was along the lines of: 'Watch where you're going' and 'Whoa, what's happening? Leave us alone. Go away.' 'We were not drunk. We barely drink. 'We didn't notice their skin tone. They were just two women in jeans and sweaters.' Ms Rein Lively claims has destroyed her reputation and cost her millions in lost business She claims her German fiance's poor command of the English language means he would never use colloquial English slang like 'bloody Indians', as the police report stated. 'Philipp barely speaks English. He conducts all of his business in German. He works for a German company. He's lived in Germany his entire life. I can barely understand him sometimes because his accent is so unbelievably thick. 'So when they claim he said "you bloody Indians" it makes it even more laughable to me because this is not language that a German national, raised in Germany, who speaks German 98 per cent of the time, would ever use.' While the fracas later made international headlines because of her friendship with President Trump (she was a guest at his inauguration and has been photographed numerous times at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago) she says the incident was over so quickly she barely registered it. 'We didn't give it a second thought. We carried on as normal the rest of our trip. 'Philipp spoke at the conference, we had a beautiful day in Hyde Park, we went to Harrods. We went home and we carried on with our lives.' A month later 'all hell broke loose.' British Transport Police released a photograph of the couple taken from CCTV footage and appealed for the public's help in identifying them. While Ms Rein Lively has to be careful what she says because of the ongoing litigation against her lover, she believes this is when the case took a dark twist and she was singled-out because of her political views. Why, she asks, did police not do a rudimentary facial recognition search to identify her rather than post a dramatic Interpol-style search poster online? 'I was on the shortlist to be President Trump's press secretary. I've been to charities, galas, non-profit events in Palm Beach for decades. 'My picture is out there. I am not an anonymous individual. 'With AI technology and Google reverse search you could pull up my Facebook, my Instagram in ten seconds. 'Philipp is an executive at a big company. We're not invisible people. 'Why did the British Transport Police decide that a public appeal was necessary?' 'Look, I fully cooperated with the legal process and I respected the system throughout but what really disturbed me was the disproportionate level of focus and resources dedicated to this matter while London is obviously struggling with serious violent crime and public safety concerns. 'I feel like there was pressure (within the police) to turn this into a symbolic or politically-charged case. 'They wanted to politicize it. They wanted to go after MAGA. They wanted to go after Trump.' Once police posted her picture taken from the CCTV footage her world turned upside down. Police claim Mr Ostermann, 37, allegedly racially abused the Javed sisters, a claim which he denies She was on a flight from Miami to Scottsdale, Arizona: 'When the plane landed I opened up my phone and I had all these messages from people saying: 'You're in the Daily Mail.' The story was featured prominently on this newspaper's website and went viral. 'I thought it was a joke at first. But the aftermath was honestly one of the most psychologically disturbing experiences of my life. 'I experienced doxxing, stalking threats, drones over my home, paparazzi followed me. I live in a gated community and people snuck in past the gates, they accosted me at my car.' Her British lawyer arranged this week's plea deal which was announced at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, prompting another round of global headlines. Ms Rein Lively, who refuses to name her firm's clients for fear they will be retaliated against, says she has seen her reputation dragged through the mud and believes this case could cost her millions in lost business. Some companies have already dumped her because of the negative publicity. 'I'm a PR person and the irony is I couldn't speak out to defend myself until now because I had to wait for my case to be over.' Another irony, she says, is that one of the police officers involved in her prosecution had her phone snatched from her hand as she waited outside Ms Rein Lively's lawyer's office. She is reluctant to compare her 'trivial' case with the horror of the Henry Nowak tragedy in which police instantly believed his Sikh killer, even as Henry lay bleeding to death from multiple stab wounds. 'It's two-tier policing, two-tier justice. I can't make a comparison…the Nowak case is absolutely horrifying. 'What I will say is that the minute that racism gets mentioned, well, I think you know…' She quotes Elon Musk, a man she knows well, who posted on X this week: 'The West has created an utterly evil state religion where an accusation of 'racism' is the gravest offense that can be committed, even worse than rape or murder.' Ms Rein Lively said: 'I can tell you this. The minute racism comes into the picture (with the police) all objectivity about what actually happened goes out the window.' The businesswoman, who is Jewish and whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, will never set foot in Britain again. 'I have friends, business associates and clients of all backgrounds, shapes, colours and religions. I do a lot of international business. I've travelled extensively to 110 countries. I love other cultures. I love learning about other people. I was raised to accept everyone; to judge people by their character, not by their skin colour. 'It's so easy to look at someone like me and say: 'She supports Trump and she's MAGA so she's racist.' 'Britain is no longer safe. I intend to close this chapter and move on. 'But I will never set foot in London again.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.