Benjamin Pasternak, founder of the Solana-based token launchpad Believe, has been arrested and charged with assault and strangulation following a March 31 incident in New York.
Prosecutors charged Pasternak with one count of second-degree strangulation and two counts of third-degree assault, while he has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court in June.
“Our team is personally concerned by the public reports of domestic violence involving Ben Pasternak,”
Said Max Burwick, founder of Burwick Law.
The arrest compounds mounting legal pressure after a class action lawsuit filed in March accused Pasternak of misleading investors about token ownership and executing transactions that allegedly diluted holders by about 33%.
The complaint claims the platform processed roughly $6 billion in trading volume and generated an estimated $54 million in fees while repeating similar token strategies across multiple projects, including $PASTERNAK, $LAUNCHCOIN and $BELIEVE.
Additional allegations from Avi Patel, founder of Kled, accuse Pasternak of breaching an OTC agreement by selling tokens on the open market, prompting buybacks that reduced his stake.
The BELIEVE token has collapsed 99.8% from its May 2025 peak, reflecting broader fallout from the controversy and ongoing legal challenges surrounding the platform.
At the time of reporting, Solana price was $85.95.