Benjamin Pasternak, founder of SocialFi and token launch app Believe, was detained on charges of “second-degree strangulation” and “third-degree assault,” according to New York Criminal Court records. Authorities announced that the 26-year-old entrepreneur was arrested last Tuesday on these charges for an incident that reportedly took place on March 31.
Benjamin Pasternak rejected the allegations of the prosecution and stated that he would defend himself against the accusations in court. Based on information in New York State’s unified court system, Pasternak’s next court hearing is scheduled for June 11.
Solana-based Believe and its functions
As a platform running on the Solana blockchain, Believe enables the trading of tokens belonging to content creators and influencers. Users can also issue their own tokens on the platform by directly responding to posts from Believe’s official account on X (formerly Twitter).
The platform stood out as one of the most notable initiatives of the crypto community in recent times. However, due to some problems and claims in a short time, the trust of the users was shaken.
Class action lawsuit and “rug pull” claims
In the class-action lawsuit filed at the end of March, investors claimed that Pasternak and his team deliberately harmed users. The lawsuit stated that the team implemented a forced transition from the platform’s native token, Launchcoin, to a new token called Believe in October last year.
It was stated that with the token exchange in question, 333 million new tokens were produced for insiders, and this reduced the share held by existing investors by approximately one third. In addition, the claim that the assets of users who did not replace their old tokens with new ones was completely deleted was included in the case files.
It was claimed that Pasternak disappeared without any explanation after the forced transition, investors were not informed and victimization occurred.
According to the lawsuit, investors lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to this situation. In the complaint text, allegations that the team had resorted to similar methods before and achieved high profits each time came to the fore.
According to the statements in the petition, Pasternak and his team are in three different token projects; It first created excitement, attracted users to the platform, collected fees, and then caused the token prices to collapse with the closure. The team, which made profits in every transaction, also earned income from all sales and declines of investors.
Collapse in Token: 99.7 percent decrease
The platform’s own token has lost 99.7 percent of its value compared to its peak in May 2025. As of today, it is trading at $0.0007009, and there has been an additional 24 percent decline in the last 24 hours. CryptoAppsy According to data, the token of the Believe platform is currently sold at $0.0007009.
It is not yet clear whether Pasternak’s latest arrest is related to the allegations in the civil lawsuit. No statement was made by Believe regarding the issue.
