A 26-year-old Sydney entrepreneur, once hailed as the ‘next Zuckerberg,’ faces serious charges in New York City following an alleged assault on March 31, the same night his relationship with content creator Evelyn Ha ended.
Arrest and Charges
Ben Pasternak was arrested on Tuesday and charged with second-degree strangulation and assault with intent to cause physical injury, according to New York Criminal Court records. He entered a not guilty plea to both counts and is scheduled to appear in court on June 11.
Dini von Mueffling, an American public relations executive and friend of Pasternak, confirmed the relationship with Ha concluded that evening. “I am writing this statement on his behalf. Ben unilaterally denies the accusation Evelyn Ha has made against him,” she stated.
Ongoing Crypto Lawsuit
The arrest coincides with a civil lawsuit accusing Pasternak of orchestrating a cryptocurrency ‘rug pull’ scheme that reportedly led to millions in investor losses. Filings in New York district court detail how he allegedly promoted tokens like $PASTERNAK, $LAUNCHCOIN, and $BELIEVE on social media via his platform, originally Clout and later rebranded Believe.
Investors claim the tokens followed a pattern of hype, rapid price surges, and sudden collapses. “Each iteration followed the same cycle: hype and promotional activity, rapid price appreciation, and catastrophic decline,” notes the filing by lawyer Max Burwick. For instance, $PASTERNAK reportedly dropped from a $85 million valuation to under $190,000 within a week of launch.
The platform enabled users with sufficient social media followers to launch personal profile-linked tokens.
From Child Prodigy to Crypto Ventures
Pasternak, grandson of Sydney property magnate Robert Magid with a net worth exceeding $700 million, rose to fame at 15 with an iPhone game created in class that topped Apple App Store charts. This drew offers from Google and Facebook, plus an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference scholarship.
He later raised over $91 million for a social media app and a plant-based chicken nugget business, both of which he sold. Raised in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, Pasternak left school in Year 10 after attracting Silicon Valley attention before pivoting to cryptocurrency.
