In a bizarrely twisted and elaborate hoax, a former staffer for a New Jersey congressman is going through costs for allegedly staging a brutal assault in opposition to herself, made to appear like a hate crime, together with paying somebody to carve wounds on her physique and writing vile slurs in opposition to President Donald Trump and Congressman Jeff Van Drew.
In keeping with a legal grievance obtained by ABC Information, 26-year-old Rutgers legislation scholar Natalie Greene, who beforehand labored for the Republican Rep. Van Drew, paid a physique scarring knowledgeable to create wounds on her higher physique to look as if she had been violently assaulted.
Natalie Greene is accused of staging her personal assault. (Photograph: X/MarioNawfal )
Investigators allege a co-conspirator referred to as police on July 23, 2025, and reported that she and Greene had been attacked at gunpoint by three males in a state park in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
When authorities discovered her in a wooded space of the park, Inexperienced’s arms and ft had been certain with zip ties, her shirt was pulled up over her head and he or she had obscene slurs, together with “TRUMP WHORE” on her abdomen and “VAN DREW IS RACIST” on her again, written with a black marker.
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However prosecutors say some particulars simply weren’t including up. They discovered zip ties in Greene’s automotive like those used to tie her up, and so they found her co-conspirator had searched on-line for “zip ties close to me,” ABC reported.
“The investigation revealed that Greene had not, in reality, been attacked by three males at gunpoint on July 23. As a substitute, Greene had paid a physique modification and scarification artist to intentionally lower the lacerations on her face, neck, higher chest, and shoulder, primarily based on a sample that she had supplied beforehand,” in accordance with a press release from the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of New Jersey.
The assertion says that when responding officers discovered her, Greene was crying and yelling that one in all her assailants had a gun and had threatened to shoot her. After receiving medical remedy, she instructed the identical story to an FBI agent who was investigating the assault.
Courtroom paperwork additionally revealed she instructed the agent she had been receiving threatening messages at work. When her telephone was inspected, investigators allegedly discovered correspondence between Greene and a “physique modification/scarification artist” in Pennsylvania, in accordance with information shops.
Greene, from Ocean Metropolis, New Jersey, made her first court docket look on costs of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and one rely of constructing false statements to federal legislation enforcement on Nov. 19 and was launched on a $200,000 bond.
Inexperienced’s legal professional, Louis Barbone, instructed ABC Information, “On the age of 26, my shopper served her group working full time to help the constituents of the Congressman with loyalty and constancy. She did that whereas being a full-time scholar. Underneath the legislation, she is presumed harmless and reserves all of her defenses for presentation in a court docket of legislation.”
Within the meantime, Van Drew’s workplace additionally issued a press release. Spokesman Paxton Antonucci instructed NBC Information, “We’re deeply saddened by at present’s information, and whereas Natalie is now not related to the Congressman’s authorities workplace, our ideas and prayers are together with her. We hope she’s getting the care she wants.”
Social media each skewered Greene and acknowledged that she wants psychological intervention.
“Poor lady,” X person Buddy wrote above a screenshot of Van Drew’s assertion.
“After studying this I’m satisfied that Jussie Smollett actually did not put effort into his hoax,” X person Scott Lee joked, referring to the actor who claimed he was the sufferer of a racist and homophobic assault in 2019 in Chicago.
One other X person agreed, “Yeah, this lady was dedicated. Each to the fraud and hopefully to an asylum.”
“Wow. Now that’s deranged. Crime hoaxes should be legally punished as severely as the true factor,” this X person said.
If convicted, Inexperienced is going through a most of as much as 10 years in jail on the 2 costs and as much as a $500,000 tremendous.
