Believe Founder Arrested on Assault and Strangulation Charges Following Rug Pull Lawsuit

TL;DR

• Believe Founder Ben Pasternak was arrested on Tuesday on strangulation and assault charges.

• He pleaded not guilty to the charges and is set to appear in court on June 11.

Benjamin Pasternak Arrested on Assault and Strangulation Charges 

Benjamin Pasternak, the founder of the Solana-based SocialFi and token launchpad platform Believe, has been arrested on charges including second-degree strangulation and assault, according to public records from the New York Criminal Court.

Records from New York State’s unified court system show that the 26-year-old was arrested on Tuesday in connection with an incident that allegedly took place on March 31.

Pasternak faces one count of second-degree strangulation and two counts of third-degree assault with intent to cause physical injury. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to appear in court on June 11.

Built on the Solana blockchain, Believe allows users to buy and trade tokens tied to creators and influencers. The platform also enables users to launch tokens directly on Solana by replying to posts from Believe’s X account.

Class-action lawsuit alleges investor losses

This latest development comes as Believe faces mounting controversy over allegations that Pasternak and his team orchestrated a rug pull scheme that allegedly caused massive investor losses.

A class-action lawsuit filed on March 23 accuses Pasternak and affiliated entities of deceptive practices that allegedly resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for investors.

According to the complaint, the platform forced users to migrate from its original native token, Launchcoin, to a newer token called Believe in October last year. The lawsuit alleges the move created 333 million additional tokens for insiders, diluting existing holders by roughly one-third, while tokens belonging to users who failed to migrate were destroyed.

The filing further claims that Pasternak later disappeared without providing updates or explanations to investors following the migration.

The lawsuit stated that,

“Pasternak ran the same play three times, under three different token names: generate excitement, bring consumers in, collect fees, and let the token collapse. Each time, he and his entities profited on every transaction, including the sell-offs that wiped out consumers.”

Data from CoinGecko shows Believe’s native token has plunged roughly 99.7% from its peak in May 2025 and was trading at approximately $0.00006455 at the time of writing. The token has also added 5% over the past 24 hours.

It remains unclear whether Pasternak’s recent arrest is connected to the ongoing civil lawsuit. The Block said it has contacted Believe for comment.