Vegan meat millionaire chokes YouTuber ex-girlfriend at a NYC 5-star hotel to evade crypto scam lawsuit

Ben Pasternak, the 26-year-old Australian entrepreneur and crypto fanatic, who was once hailed for having made great strides towards developing a vegetarian meat, is now charged with a felony following an alleged physical altercation he had with his ex-girlfriend inside one of the world’s finest hotels in New York City. 

This happened on March 31, 2026, inside the Baccarat Hotel, which offers rooms going for up to $2,000 per night, located on West 53rd Street.

Ben Pasternak strangles his ex-girlfriend for turning snitch

In a complaint filed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the incident allegedly started at the Baccarat Hotel. This is when Pasternak’s girlfriend at the time, a 27-year-old Korean-American YouTube personality named Evelyn Ha, attempted to record him on her cell phone. 

In court documents, it is stated that Pasternak grabbed Evelyn Ha by the neck with both hands, which resulted in marks and redness on her neck and throat pain and difficulty breathing for her. According to the documents, Pasternak also slammed the door shut on her multiple times, resulting in bruises on both of her arms and hips.

Ha, who has 530,000+ subscribers on YouTube, responded to the event through her YouTube channel on April 24. “There were serious boundaries that were crossed, and I decided to move away from that relationship for the sake of my safety and my wellbeing,” she said. “It’s still really raw for me… I’m just spending time with friends and family and just trying to take everything day by day.” 

Pasternak was apprehended on Tuesday, April 22, 2026. Pasternak is charged with one charge of second-degree strangulation, which is a felony, as well as two charges of third-degree assault, which are misdemeanors, with intent to inflict bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty and was granted personal recognizance bail despite the prosecution’s demand for a $30,000 bail.

However, Pasternak and his lawyers categorically refute the allegations of assault. In an interview with the press, lawyer Josh Kirshner explained that his client entered a not guilty plea because he is truly not guilty and his actions were limited to defending himself against his aggressor and separating from him. 

Meanwhile, spokeswoman Dini von Mueffling, a close friend of Pasternak, called Ha his aggressor, who suddenly flew into a rage and has been emotionally and physically abusive during their entire relationship. She adds that she had always been very jealous. She adds that she threatened to kill him if he ever dared to break up.

Crypto lawsuit provides motive for hiding

Pasternak’s entrepreneurial journey started young, leaving high school at age 15 to focus entirely on being an entrepreneur, per Forbes. By age 14, Pasternak was developing iOS games, and at 18, he developed and sold Monkey, a video-calling app, gaining 10 million users. Pasternak went on to start Simulate in 2018, a New York-based company that made Nuggs.

By 2020, Simulate had achieved a $250 million valuation and earned $8 million in revenue, earning him a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. After selling the company and stepping down as CEO, Pasternak turned to crypto, founding Believe (formerly Clout.me), a SocialFi platform on the Solana network that enables token creation without coding.

Now, prosecutors claim that Pasternak was hiding at the Baccarat hotel to avoid being served in an ongoing class action lawsuit filed on March 23, 2026. Investors Joshua Lee and Pierre Montmeas sued him in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against him, B24 Inc., d/b/a Believe, and Believe Foundation.

According to the lawsuit, Pasternak did not admit to having any personal stake in the tokens, yet received creator fees from all transactions involving them. He failed to honor at least 12 buybacks pledged publicly, and engaged in a token swap that resulted in a 33% dilution of token holdings. 

It is reported that the platform had traded over $6 billion in tokens and earned millions in transaction fees before the tokens’ crash, when the price of $BELIEVE fell 99% to below $0.00075. It now has a market capitalization of less than $900,000. 

The plaintiffs argue that “consumers lost nearly everything,” and the lawsuit is demanding that the defendants return the unlawfully obtained revenues, including $54 million in income.

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