Benjamin Pasternak, founder of the Solana-based SocialFi platform Believe, was arrested on Tuesday, April 22, 2026, on criminal charges of strangulation and assault. According to public court records, Pasternak faces one count of strangulation in the second degree and two counts of assault in the third degree stemming from an incident dated March 31. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to return to court for a hearing on June 11.
The arrest adds a new layer of legal pressure to Pasternak and the Believe ecosystem, which is already embroiled in a significant civil lawsuit. A class-action complaint was filed on March 23, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit names Pasternak, B24, Inc., and the Believe Foundation as defendants. Plaintiffs Joshua Lee and Pierre Montmeas are representing holders of the $PASTERNAK, $LAUNCHCOIN, and $BELIEVE tokens, alleging they suffered major losses due to deceptive and misleading conduct.
The civil complaint details a series of actions that allegedly harmed investors. It states that Pasternak launched his token in January 2025 on a platform later renamed Believe, publicly claiming "0 ownership" while later promoting a buyback plan to support the token price. The central dispute, however, revolves around a forced token migration announced on October 15, 2025.
According to the filing, the migration from $LAUNCHCOIN to a new $BELIEVE token increased the total supply from 1 billion to 1,333,333,284 tokens. This created approximately 333 million new tokens, diluting existing holders by 33.3%. The complaint alleges the newly created tokens were allocated to insiders, while a portion of the foundation allocation (about 40 million tokens) was immediately unlocked. Holders who did not complete the migration lost their old tokens, which were permanently burned.
The lawsuit accuses Pasternak of abandoning investors after the migration, stopping updates without explanation. In a pointed allegation, the filing claims, "Pasternak ran the same play three times, under three different token names: generate excitement, bring consumers in, collect fees, and let the token collapse."
While the current criminal charges are separate from the civil case regarding token activity, the arrest compounds the growing list of problems for the Believe platform. Believe is known as a token launch and trading app tied to creators and influencers, allowing users to create tokens directly through posts on X.
