A new class-action suit alleges Believe founder Ben Pasternak pocketed roughly $54 million in fees from a series of token launches and migrations — leaving many investors with steep losses. What the complaint says - Plaintiffs Joshua Lee and Pierre Montmeas filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, naming Pasternak and related entities including B24, Inc. and the Believe Foundation. - According to the filing, the Believe platform processed nearly $6 billion in trading volume across tokens such as $PASTERNAK, $LAUNCHCOIN and $BELIEVE, and collected an estimated $54 million in transaction fees. - The complaint singles out an October 2025 migration from $LAUNCHCOIN to $BELIEVE. Plaintiffs say the total token supply rose from 1 billion to more than 1.33 billion — an addition of about 333 million tokens, or roughly 33.3% dilution for existing holders. - Users were given a two-week window to migrate holdings; any tokens left unconverted after the deadline were allegedly burned. Plaintiffs claim many of the newly created tokens were routed to insider-linked wallets, and that roughly 40 million tokens allocated to the foundation were unlocked immediately. - The filing accuses Pasternak of repeating the same pattern across multiple token launches: “generate excitement, bring consumers in, collect fees, and let the token collapse.” Additional allegations and requested relief - The suit also alleges Pasternak failed to honor at least 12 publicly stated buyback commitments and continued to collect fees despite prior statements asserting “zero ownership” in the tokens. - Plaintiffs are asking the court to freeze on-chain assets tied to the project — including wallets and token reserves — and to recover what they describe as unlawfully obtained revenues. Criminal charges against Pasternak - Separate court records from the New York State Unified Court System show Pasternak was arrested on April 22 on one count of second-degree strangulation and two counts of third-degree assault tied to an alleged March 31 incident at the Baccarat Hotel involving 27-year-old YouTube creator Evelyn Ha. - Pasternak has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on June 11. His legal team has said he acted in self-defense, and a spokesperson described the complainant as the aggressor in the altercation. Why it matters The lawsuit highlights growing scrutiny of token migrations, insider allocations and founder conduct in the crypto space. If the court grants the requested asset freezes or finds the defendants liable, the case could have implications for how migrations and token economics are structured and disclosed going forward. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news