What Happened to Benjamin Pasternak?

Benjamin Pasternak, born September 6, 1999, first gained international recognition as a teenage tech prodigy from Sydney, Australia. His entrepreneurial journey began at age 13 when he developed the mobile game 'Impossible Rush' while bored in science class, which quickly garnered millions of downloads and topped app store charts. This early success led him to drop out of high school at 15 and move to New York City, where he secured venture capital funding for his social marketplace app, Flogg, designed for teenagers to buy and sell items.

Following Flogg, Pasternak co-founded the video chat app Monkey in late 2016, which allowed teenagers to connect with like-minded individuals. Monkey rapidly amassed over 20 million users and was acquired by Holla in February 2018 for an undisclosed sum. In early 2018, Pasternak pivoted to the food technology sector, co-founding Simulate, a company aimed at upgrading the food system with plant-based alternatives. Its flagship product, Nuggs, a plant-based chicken nugget substitute, launched in July 2019 and achieved a valuation of over $250 million during a 2021 financing round.

In late 2024, Pasternak reportedly sold Simulate and shifted his focus to the Web3 and cryptocurrency space. In January 2025, he launched Clout, a Web3 startup focused on social media-related blockchain applications, which later rebranded to Believe in May 2025. The platform enabled the creation of cryptocurrency tokens, including his own $Pasternak token, which was subsequently renamed $Launchcoin and then $Believe. However, the Believe token experienced a significant decline, dropping 90% between October and December 2025, and over 99.7% from its May 2025 peak by April 2026.

These developments led to a federal class-action lawsuit filed against Pasternak and the Believe platform on March 23, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that Pasternak and his platform conducted a coordinated campaign involving multiple tokens, resulting in substantial investor losses through deceptive practices and alleged 'rug pull' schemes. Adding to his legal troubles, Pasternak was arrested on April 21, 2026, in New York on charges of second-degree strangulation and assault stemming from an alleged March 31 altercation with his former girlfriend, Evelyn Ha, at the Baccarat Hotel. He has pleaded not guilty to these charges and is scheduled to return to Manhattan Criminal Court on June 11, 2026.