A woman who had accused Donald Trump of raping her when she was a 13-year-old girl has once again dropped her lawsuit against the Republican presidential candidate. Thomas Meagher, an attorney for the complainant (known only by the pseudonyms “Jane Doe” and “Katie Johnson”), filed a voluntary dismissal in district court in New York on 4 November 2016, two days after the putative victim was a no-show at a scheduled press conference.

The complainant cited “numerous threats” against her life as the reason behind both her non-appearance and her dropping of the lawsuit. The woman alleged that Trump and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein had raped her in 1994, when she was a 13-year-old aspiring model.

“She has been here all day, ready to do it, but unfortunately she is in terrible fear,” attorney Lisa Bloom said of the abortive press conference. A status conference for the lawsuit was scheduled to be held on 16 December 2016.

Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the claims were “a complete fabrication” and that “this is basically a sham lawsuit brought by someone who desires to impact the presidential election.”

An initial lawsuit filed in California in April 2016 was dismissed for technical errors, refiled in New York in June 2016, dismissed in September 2016 and refiled again the following month.