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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This has it all. Crypto, influencers, Australia, Chinese girlfriend, vegan foods mogul, hiding out at elite hotel to dodge legal summons.
If I ate simulmeat all the time, Id eventually want real meat as well.
They had one kid. Named him Ha. Gonna be a comedian.
I believe him and she uses the kind of language a guilty person would use on the advice of her attorney(s).
LL: ...his ex, influencer Evelyn Ha... "They had one kid. Named him Ha. Gonna be a comedian."
***
His brother was not so fortunate. They named him "Hee", so the Buck is going to stop there.
“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.”
I want a nap after reading that.
Pasternak sold the plant-based nugget venture — once dubbed the “Tesla of Chicken” — in 2024.
He’s separately facing allegations from investors that he illegally diluted the value of the crypto coins they bought on his token creation and trading platform, Believe, according to court papers.
“Consumers lost nearly everything,” investors Joshua Lee and Pierre Montmeas wrote in the suit filed on March 23 in Manhattan federal court.
Pasternak has yet to respond to the suit, but court records show that process servers finally tracked him down and slapped him with a summons on April 17, weeks after the alleged assault.
When I don’t want meat I really don’t want fake meat. Give me squash, potatoes, onions, various beans, etc. and I can make a real meal.
Dear Vegans,
Why do you try to make your vegetable “meat” look and taste like meat? Shouldn’t you just be happy with your vegetables in their natural state?
“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.”
Yet another example that someone can have a pile of cash and yet be a completely trashy person.
(“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.”)
Crikey Mate!!!
I hate to pick sides based on such a tiny sliver of information, but that little speech has so many buzz words and warning phrases in it, I'm inclined to believe that she's the bad guy here.
Sometimes they get together to jam though. One's a-picking and one's a-grinning.
(Dear Vegans,
Why do you try to make your vegetable “meat”
look and taste like meat?)
Excellent question
Well it makes as much sense as
Lesbians pretending to be Men and
Gay Men pretending to be Women
I think the idea is to win the rest of us over.
That mish-mash is.....
Beyond Awful ™️
He’s a vegan mogul because he doesn’t want to harm the animals, but he does all this other stuff! Wow!
Sometimes life in the slow lane ain’t so bad.
I wonder what sort of market there would be for meat products that simulate vegetables, e.g. little green chicken nuggets shaped like lima beans.
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