A well-dressed couple sought by police over an altercation in London are a financier and the Trump-supporting founder of the world’s first anti-woke PR firm, the Daily Mail can reveal today.
British Transport Police have released a photo of a man and woman they want to speak to after a family claimed they were racially abused and assaulted in central London on Saturday, October 11.
A row broke out at Bond Street station at 7.30pm when a pushchair bumped the woman in a photo released by a senior police officer on social media yesterday.
The West End is a well-known mugging hotspot where scores of crimes go unsolved, but detectives yesterday released an image of the pair in an attempt to crack an alleged assault almost a month ago.
Chief Superintendent Chris Casey said detectives wanted to identify them and the couple have been named online as Philip Ostermann and Melissa Rein Lively.
The row broke out as they were reportedly walking into Bond Street station, with a woman, her sister and two young children, one in a pushchair, allegedly being abused after the buggy bumped into the woman walking in front.
A man, who had been walking with the woman, then turned around and started shouting abuse at the family. When the victim tried to defend herself, the man pulled out a small bottle, claiming it was pepper spray, and sprayed it in the family’s direction, police said.
Mr Ostermann is associate director of a Munich-based private equity firm called Aequita, with offices in Tokyo and South Carolina.
Ms Rein Lively, 40, is a political consultant and PR who fought for the job of White House spokesman for Trump’s second term before the President plumped for Karoline Leavitt last year.
She has spoken publicly of showing her support for President Trump with ‘her face’ by adopting the ‘MAGA look’ of blonde hair, veneers and Botox. In 2020 she made headlines by filming herself trashing masks in a shop during the pandemic.
Last month Melissa posted a picture on Instagram of herself outside auction house Sotheby’s on Bond Street, wearing the same outfit as the woman in the BTP photo, captioned: ‘With love from London’. She has since deleted her account.
Mr Ostermann had been listed to speak at a private equity conference at the Syon Park stately home near Heathrow on October 14. He was part of a panel discussion titled ‘Delivering operational resilience and drive growth through robust cash management’.
The Daily Mail has asked both Mr Ostermann and Ms Rein Lively to comment.
Ms Rein Lively is founder of ‘America First’, a PR agency offering clients ‘anti-woke’ service.
Melissa hit the headlines in 2020 when she filmed herself destroying a rack of face masks in a Target store in Scottsdale, Arizona, while boasting about her $40,000 Rolex.
She was also pictured on Instagram with Dr. Anthony Fauci, who she reportedly claimed should be arrested for treason. In the photo she is smiling while swearing at the camera, with the caption: ‘Our face when they try to run the scam again’.
In a recent interview, published yesterday, she revealed she shows her support for President Trump ‘on her face’ with the so-called ‘MAGA look’ of long blonde hair, heavy makeup and regular Botox.
The 40-year-old conservative has said she sees President Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his daughter-in-law Lara as her role models.
She said: ‘This has always been my look. I just found my tribe. It’s so much bigger than politics. It’s friendships. It’s relationships. That MAGA look really signals to other people that you’re on the same team’.
Speaking to AFP, Rein Lively, said her face and fashion is for herself, not for men, as some critics of the ‘MAGA-look’ have claimed.
‘By absolutely nobody’s volition other than my own do I spend two hours in the gym every day, get my hair done every three and a half weeks on the button, get my nails done, get my eyebrows done, get my skincare done, get Botox,’ she said.
In 2020 she hit headlines last year after footage of her went viral, showing her destroying a display of face masks.
Trolls called her ‘Rolex Karen’.
The high-flying PR executive claimed she was ‘groomed’ by QAnon and that her ‘entire world view collapsed’ after stumbling across the online conspiracy theory group on yoga and wellness pages.
Appearing on Finding Q, a podcast investigating the shadowy figure behind the movement by British journalist Nicky Woolf, she said that she was left suicidal after joining the group and the strain of the experience took ’20 years off her life’.
‘I know it’s really easy to look at this on the face and say “These people are idiots”, but I’m telling you this is some of the most well produced, well written things that were very plausible, and I realise there is a huge industry for conspiracy theories.’
‘I absolutely call it a cult in every single way,’ she said. ‘It destroyed me completely, collapsed my world view and landed me in a psychiatric evaluation facility.
‘For me, being a successful person in my life, I never thought I would be in a situation like that and it was rock bottom.’
Melissa had first heard about Covid-19 in January of 2020 when her brother called her from China, panicking, and warning her that a new virus was spreading quickly around the country.
Melissa was terrified and took her brother’s advice to bulk buy masks and gloves – an attitude she says was later ‘totally reversed’ after joining the conspiracy group.
During lockdown Melissa admitted she was ‘lonely’ at home and was spending a lot of time online, soon stumbling on seemingly innocuous posts from the conspiracy movement on pages related to her interests.
‘When they call it a rabbit hole, it starts up at the top, near the surface with very innocuous information and as you click and click and click the algorithm does it’s thing,’ she said.
‘Over time it becomes more and more extreme and the confirmation bias you’re experiencing changes the way you think and grooms you to believe a separate set of beliefs that you had before’.
She and Mr Ostermann are understood to be a couple, pictured together on social media in Venice earlier this year.
It is not known where they are but Ms Rein Lively was recently pictured for a MAGA feature in Florida.
They have been identified by internet sleuths after a woman, her sister and two young children, one in a pushchair, were allegedly abused.
They had been walking into Bond Street Underground station when the pushchair collided with a woman walking in front.
A man, who had been walking with her, then turned around and began shouting abuse at the family, before the woman is said to have started pulling one of the sisters’ hair.
When the victim tried to defend herself, the man pulled out a small bottle, claiming it was pepper spray, and sprayed it in the family’s direction.
The woman continued to shout abuse and made lewd gestures at them before the couple left the area.
It remains unclear what the substance was, however, the family reported no ill effects following the incident.
British Transport Police tweeted an image of the couple they wanted to speak to.
BTP said in a statement: ‘Officers believe the man and woman in the image could have information that may assist their enquiries.
‘Anyone who recognises them is asked to text BTP on 61016, using the reference 413 of 12 October.
‘Information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.’
