Posted on 04/25/2026 2:22:12 AM PDT by dennisw
An Australian entrepreneur who launched a prominent vegan chicken nugget startup has been accused of strangling his social media star girlfriend inside a luxe Manhattan hotel — where he was allegedly hiding out from claims he fleeced investors in his crypto company, The Post has learned.
Ben Pasternak, 26 — whose plant-based business Simulate was once valued at $250 million — was arrested Tuesday on allegations that he assaulted his ex, influencer Evelyn Ha, on March 31 after she tried to film him on her phone inside the ritzy Baccarat Hotel on West 53rd Street.
The millionaire magnate had been staying at the $2,000-per-night Midtown hotel to avoid getting served with a lawsuit against his cryptocurrency venture, Believe, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
“She was emotionally and physically abusive, very jealous, and threatened him if he ever dared leave the relationship,” the PR rep added. “Our fears are now coming to fruition. She’s now making good on her threats.”
But Ha said she was the one who decided to leave the tech tycoon — out of fears for her own safety.
“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 in a video posted Thursday to YouTube, where she has more 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 try my best to just be in the moment,” Ha said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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She sounds like she’s definitely up there on the “Crazy” axis.
vegan “meat” + crypto fraud = two peas in a pod ...
There is no such thing as vegan "meat". If it's vegan, it's not meat.
As though he's a "strangler saver". If he's strangling her, he's not saving her.
Yeah. Have you noticed that the just aren’t any companies desperately trying to reconfigure prime rib to look and taste like a bad imitation of brussels sprouts?
sad.
one REAL burger would have prevented this. All of this.
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