An Australian entrepreneur who launched a distinguished vegan rooster nugget startup has been accused of strangling his social media star girlfriend inside a luxe Manhattan lodge — the place he was allegedly hiding out from claims he fleeced traders in his crypto firm, The Publish has discovered.
Ben Pasternak, 26 — whose plant-based enterprise Simulate was as soon as valued at $250 million — was arrested Tuesday on allegations that he assaulted his ex, influencer Evelyn Ha, on March 31 after she tried to movie him on her telephone contained in the ritzy Baccarat Lodge on West 53rd Road.
The millionaire magnate had been staying on the $2,000-per-night Midtown lodge to keep away from getting served with a lawsuit towards his cryptocurrency enterprise, Imagine, in accordance with the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace.
Pasternak allegedly squeezed Ha’s neck with each palms, inflicting her to hunt medical consideration after experiencing “redness to her neck, ache to her throat, and problem respiratory,” a felony grievance states.
The child-faced “meat” mogul additionally slammed a door on his ex a number of occasions, “inflicting substantial bruising to each of her arms and each side of her hips,” court docket papers declare.
Pasternak denies the fees towards him — and claims that the petite 27-year-old Korean-American vlogger was in truth the aggressor.
His spokeswoman Dini von Mueffling, who described herself as a longtime good friend of the serial startup founder, claimed that Ha “flew right into a rage” and “attacked” Pasternak throughout the lodge encounter.
“All through their relationship, Evelyn bodily attacked Ben,” von Mueffling claimed in a press release.
“She was emotionally and bodily abusive, very jealous, and threatened him if he ever dared go away the connection,” the PR rep added. “Our fears are actually coming to fruition. She’s now making good on her threats.”
However Ha stated she was the one who determined to go away the tech tycoon — out of fears for her personal security.
“There have been critical boundaries that had been crossed, and I made a decision to maneuver away from that relationship for the sake of my security and my wellbeing,” she stated in a video posted Thursday to YouTube, the place she has greater than 530,000 subscribers.
“It’s nonetheless actually uncooked for me to be fully sincere, and proper now I’m simply spending time with family and friends and simply making an attempt to take all the things daily, hour by hour, and simply attempt my greatest to simply be within the second,” Ha stated.
Pasternak pleaded not responsible Tuesday to a felony second-degree strangulation cost, and a misdemeanor rap of assault.
He was launched on his personal recognizance regardless of prosecutors asking for $30,000 bail.
The younger tech founder dropped out of highschool to focus full-time on constructing corporations, and was residing on his personal inside a Hells Kitchen studio condo at simply 16 years outdated, The Publish reported in 2016.
Pasternak bought the plant-based nugget enterprise — as soon as dubbed the “Tesla of Rooster” — in 2024.
He’s individually going through allegations from traders that he illegally diluted the worth of the crypto cash they purchased on his token creation and buying and selling platform, Imagine, in accordance with court docket papers.
“Customers misplaced practically all the things,” traders Joshua Lee and Pierre Montmeas wrote within the go well with filed on March 23 in Manhattan federal court docket.
Pasternak has but to answer the go well with, however court docket data present that course of servers lastly tracked him down and slapped him with a summons on April 17, weeks after the alleged assault.
He’s due again in court docket in that case on June 11.
Pasternak’s lawyer, Josh Kirshner, informed The Publish that his consumer “entered a plea of not responsible as a result of he’s certainly harmless.”
Kirshner stated Pasternak’s actions throughout the encounter had been “restricted to lawful self-defense and efforts to disengage.”
“The complainant’s account is inconsistent and unsupported by dependable corroboration. We count on the information to show that these expenses are unwarranted,” he stated.
“As heartbreaking as it’s to see Ben’s identify smeared, as his good friend, I’m grateful that he’s not in bodily hazard,” von Mueffling added.
