A wealthy Russian man was convicted today for assaulting his girlfriend during a FaceTime call with Barron Trump, though he was acquitted of rape charges.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, was found guilty of attacking the woman in a fit of jealousy at his London apartment while she was on a video call with Donald Trump’s youngest son.
In addition to the assault conviction, Rumiantsev was found guilty of attempting to obstruct justice. He made a phone call to the woman from a police station after his arrest and wrote to her from Belmarsh prison, where he was held on remand days later.
However, the former MMA fighter was acquitted of two rape charges, one count of strangulation, and one count of assault by beating.
During the trial, it was revealed that Barron Trump played a crucial role by alerting authorities. He called the police after witnessing the assault over the video call.
Barron, 19, directly communicated with emergency services, expressing his concern after hearing what he believed to be Rumiantsev repeatedly hitting his friend.
Rumiantsev was jealous of the American’s relationship with the woman and flew into a rage when he tried to phone her earlier that evening.
He then answered a video call from the President’s son on the woman’s phone, showed Barron her face then grabbed her hair and pushed her to the floor – shouting ‘You are not worth anything’, Snaresbrook Crown Court in north-east London heard.
Russian national Matvei Rumiantsev was accused of repeatedly punching Barron’s female friend in a flat in London while President Trump’s son was on a FaceTime call to her from the US
Jurors at a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court were told to treat Barron Trump’s (pictured) account of his friend’s alleged attack with caution and consider if it may be biased or mistaken
Rumiantsev called the woman a ‘slut’ and a ‘whore’ and kicked her in the stomach when she was on the floor next to the fridge, jurors were told.
Barron spent some time working out how to reach emergency services in Britain before telling a call handler: ‘I just got a call from a girl, you know. She’s getting beaten up.’
Jurors were played a recording of the conversation, in which he gave the woman’s address, then added: ‘It’s really an emergency, please. I got a call from her with a guy beating her up.’
Barron told the call handler he knew the woman through social media, after being ticked off by the operator for refusing to answer questions.
The call handler told the US president’s son: ‘Can you stop being rude and actually answer my questions? If you want to help the person, you’ll answer my questions clearly and precisely, thank you. So how do you know her?’
Barron answered: ‘I met her on social media. She’s getting really badly beat up and the call was about eight minutes ago, I don’t know what could have happened by now.’
He added, ‘So sorry for being rude’, in the call was made at 2.23am on January 18 last year.
The 6ft 7in college student is Trump’s fifth child and the president’s only child with his wife Melania.
Rumiantsev (pictured centre) denied allegations including assault, two counts of rape and intentional strangulation
He has been credited as having raised the alarm during Rumiantsev’s trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London.
Bodycam footage from police at the scene showed the woman telling officers: ‘I am friends with Barron Trump, Donald Trump’s son.’
One of the officers can then be heard telling a colleague: ‘So apparently this informant from America is likely to be Donald Trump’s son.’
The woman is then asked to call Barron back, as the American explained to officers he could see her crying and being struck during the FaceTime call.
He told officers: ‘I called you guys – that was the best thing I could do. I wasn’t going to call back and threaten things to him because that would just make the situation worse.’
Giving evidence, the woman said: ‘He [Barron Trump] helped save my life. That call was like a sign from God at that moment.’
Police attended his home in Poplar, east London, in the early hours of January 18, 2025, following two 999 calls from the alleged victim and one from Barron.
The woman told officers she had been slapped, punched, kicked and strangled during the assault.
While in custody, Rumiantsev tricked officers into allowing him to phone the woman.
He was overheard saying words to the effect of ‘While you are sleeping in your warm bed, I’m in jail,’ prosecutor Serena Gates said.
Eight days later, the Russian made a call from prison to a friend named Arsen, saying he had already posted him a letter that he should give to the woman, in which he pleaded with her to withdraw her statement.
The victim withdrew her statement but later retracted this, telling police the original account was true and that Rumiantsev had also sexually assaulted her on two occasions.
She explained that the Russian would deliberately get her so drunk that he could have sex with her without her being able to consent.
She said she had asked him why he did this to her and he responded: ‘You never want to do this with me so I make you drink and do this to you.’
Sasha Wass KC, defending, described the victim’s accounts of the alleged attacks as ‘untrue and fabricated’.
