Vegan meat mogul charged with strangling social media star ex in ritzy NYC hotel — where he was allegedly ‘hiding’ from crypto fraud suit

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.

Pasternak allegedly squeezed Ha’s neck with both hands, causing her to seek medical attention after experiencing “redness to her neck, pain to her throat, and difficulty breathing,” a criminal complaint states.

The baby-faced “meat” mogul also slammed a door on his ex several times, “causing substantial bruising to both of her arms and both sides of her hips,” court papers claim.

Pasternak denies the charges against him — and claims that the petite 27-year-old Korean-American vlogger was in fact the aggressor.

His spokeswoman Dini von Mueffling, who described herself as a longtime friend of the serial startup founder, claimed that Ha “flew into a rage” and “attacked” Pasternak during the hotel encounter.

“Throughout their relationship, Evelyn physically attacked Ben,” von Mueffling claimed in a statement.

“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.

Pasternak pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a felony second-degree strangulation charge, and a misdemeanor rap of assault.

He was released on his own recognizance despite prosecutors asking for $30,000 bail.

The young tech founder dropped out of high school to focus full-time on building companies, and was living on his own inside a Hells Kitchen studio apartment at just 16 years old, The Post reported in 2016.

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.

He is due back in court in that case on June 11.

Pasternak’s lawyer, Josh Kirshner, told The Post that his client “entered a plea of not guilty because he is indeed innocent.”

Kirshner said Pasternak’s actions during the encounter were “limited to lawful self-defense and efforts to disengage.”

“The complainant’s account is inconsistent and unsupported by reliable corroboration. We expect the facts to demonstrate that these charges are unwarranted,” he said.

“As heartbreaking as it is to see Ben’s name smeared, as his friend, I am grateful that he is no longer in physical danger,” von Mueffling added.