Ben Pasternak, the Australian wunderkind who tried to revive the idea of “internet capital markets” together with his memecoin launchpad Imagine has been accused of secretly dumping tokens tied to AI information agency Kled.
Kled, which claims to pay customers for his or her private information, which is collected by information labelling duties that may embody importing photos and essays.
As soon as in possession of this information, it then palms it over to bigger AI firms in order that it may be used to enhance datasets and assist practice AI software program.
Pasternak had allegedly agreed with Kled CEO Avi Pastel that he wouldn’t promote his tokens on the open market and, if liquidity was ever wanted, he was open to “OTC sales or burning supply.”
Nevertheless, Pastel claimed on Tuesday that in the future after Kled launched its cellular app on September 24, Pasternak “OTC’d” nearly all of his tokens to an undisclosed third occasion which then started promoting them.
ben launchd an app known as clout practically a 12 months in the past, held customers funds hostage & then by no means refunded them
his fame was scuffed & then your fav VC fortunately touted him
extracted tens of thousands and thousands altho his intentions have been at all times clear
fame issues https://t.co/RLDIxXMkTH pic.twitter.com/ZVa8w3wbnZ
— Serpin Taxt (@serpinxbt) December 16, 2025
Ben Pasternak’s rating on Ethos has additionally been taking successful.
Pastel claims that, because of the sale, “We were forced into damage control, scrambling to coordinate OTC solutions to prevent further market harm.”
Pasternak claimed that the token sale was as a result of “taxes.” Nevertheless, Pastel claims, “To this day, we do not know what this means,” and says Pasternak nonetheless hasn’t disclosed who the third occasion was.
Pasternak allegedly saved breaking guarantees
Afterwards, Pasternak allegedly conform to then reneged on OTC pricing guarantees on 4 events, “while also lying about when he began selling.”
In consequence, the Kled staff was “forced” to OTC his place at a $27 million valuation, lowering his holdings from “around 6% to roughly 3.5%.”
Pasternak then allegedly claimed that he wouldn’t offload the rest of the tokens — till every week in the past, when he apparently started promoting once more.
“Once again, our whales had to scramble to organize OTC buys, reducing his position to roughly 1.7%,” Pastel stated, including, “Even then, he continued selling into the chart.”
He described Pasternak’s conduct as “unacceptable,” and claimed, “No builder should ever work with him again if that was not already clear.”
Pasternak scrubs LinkedIn
Pasternak hasn’t responded to the allegations made on X, and hasn’t been lively on the platform since October 20.
Final month, he introduced an AI startup on LinkedIn, however now he seems to have scrubbed the LinkedIn account of all of its posts.
Imagine offered a service the place customers might create a token on the again of an thought by merely tagging the app’s LaunchCoin account.
As a part of its phrases, Pastel says Pasternak was given a portion of token allocations that have been created on the platform. Nevertheless, Kled break up from Imagine in July and now retains all of its charges.
Protos has reached out to Imagine for remark and can replace this piece ought to we hear again.
