Vegan meat mogul charged with strangling social media star ex in ritzy NYC hotel
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 hotel — the place he was allegedly hiding out from claims he fleeced traders in his crypto firm, The Post has realized.
Ben Pasternak, 26 — whose plant-based enterprise Simulate was once valued at $250 million — was arrested Tuesday on allegations that he assaulted his ex, influencer Evelyn Haon March 31 after she tried to movie him on her cellphone contained in the ritzy Baccarat Hotel on West 53rd Street.
The millionaire magnate had been staying on the $2,000-per-night Midtown hotel to keep away from getting served with a lawsuit towards his cryptocurrency enterprise, Believe, in response to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Pasternak allegedly squeezed Ha’s neck with each fingers, inflicting her to hunt medical consideration after experiencing “redness to her neck, pain to her throat, and difficulty breathing,” a legal criticism states.
The baby-faced “meat” mogul additionally slammed a door on his ex a number of occasions, “causing substantial bruising to both of her arms and both sides of her hips,” courtroom papers declare.
Pasternak denies the costs towards him — and claims that the petite 27-year-old Korean-American vlogger was in reality the aggressor.
His defender Dini von Mueffling, who described herself as a longtime pal of the serial startup founder, claimed that she had “flew into a rage” and “attacked” Pasternak in the course of the hotel encounter.
“Throughout their relationship, Evelyn physically attacked Ben,” von Mueffling claimed in a press release.
“She was emotionally and physically abusive, very jealous, and threatened him if he ever dared to leave the relationship,” the PR rep added. “Our fears are now coming to fruition. She’s now doing good on her threats.”
But Ha mentioned she was the one who determined to go away the tech tycoon — out of fears for her personal security.
“There were serious boundaries that were crossed, and I decided to move away from that relationship for the sake of my safety and my well-being,” she mentioned in a video posted Thursday to YouTube, the place she has greater than 530,000 subscribers.
“It’s still really raw for me to be completely honest, and right now I’m just spending time with friends and family and just trying to take everything day by day, hour by hour, and just trying my best to just be in the moment,” Ha mentioned.
Pasternak pleaded not responsible Tuesday to a legal second-degree strangulation cost, and a misdemeanor rap of assault.
He was launched on his personal recognition regardless of prosecutors asking for $30,000 bail.
The younger tech founder dropped out of highschool to focus full-time on constructing firms, and was residing on his personal inside a Hells Kitchen studio condominium at simply 16 years outdated, The Post reported in 2016.
Pasternak offered the plant-based nugget enterprise — as soon as dubbed the “Tesla of Chicken” — 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, Believe, in response to courtroom papers.
“Consumers lost nearly everything,” traders Joshua Lee and Pierre Montmeas wrote in the swimsuit filed on March 23 in Manhattan federal courtroom.
Pasternak has but to reply to the swimsuit, however courtroom information present that course of servers lastly tracked him down and slapped him with a summons on April 17, weeks after the alleged assault.
He is due again in courtroom in that case on June 11.
Pasternak’s lawyer, Josh Kirshner, informed The Post that his consumer “entered a plea of not guilty because he is indeed innocent.”
Kirshner mentioned Pasternak’s actions in the course of the encounter had been “limited to lawful self-defense and efforts to disengage.”
“The complainant’s account is inconsistent and unsupported by reliable corroboration. We expect the facts to demonstrate that these charges are unwarranted,” he mentioned.
“As heartbreaking as it is to see Ben’s name smeared, as his friend, I am grateful that he is no longer in physical danger,” von Mueffling added.
