“Hawk Tuah” Star Sued Over $325K Meme Coin ‘Designed to Crash’ — Will Holders Recover?

Influencer Haliey Welch, broadly generally known as the viral “Hawk Tuah” woman, is now on the heart of a contemporary authorized battle after a crypto legislation agency moved to add her as a defendant in an increasing federal class-action lawsuit tied to final yr’s catastrophic $HAWK meme coin collapse.

According to a new filing within the Eastern District of New York, Welch and her supervisor, Johnnie Forster, together with their firm, 16 Minutes LLC, allegedly performed a key function in selling a token that legal professionals say was “designed to crash inside minutes,” permitting insiders to unload tokens in the course of the launch frenzy and stroll away with substantial income.

Complaint Says ‘Hawk Tuah’ Personality Was Central to HAWK Token Collapse

Burwick Law, the agency main the lawsuit, previously left Welch out of the case. It now argues that new proof exhibits she earned up to $325,000 for her involvement and have become a “crucial part” of a coordinated promotional pipeline that drew in retail patrons who trusted her public persona.

The up to date criticism claims Welch agreed to a $125,000 upfront fee, with one other $200,000 tied to promotional milestones, after signing a “Meme Token Creation and Monetization Agreement” with Memetic Labs 5 months earlier than launch.

The submitting says these funds elevated her from a passive sponsor to a necessary a part of the token’s advertising funnel, even because the undertaking allegedly made guarantees it couldn’t technically ship.

Welch, who rose to web fame in 2024 thanks to a viral road interview and later launched the Talk Tuah podcast, had promoted HAWK as a cultural token that might combine together with her present and supply subscription-style perks.

The lawsuit argues that none of those options have been ever technically possible.

The Solana-based token had a spectacular but short-lived debut. It skyrocketed to a $490 million market cap in beneath quarter-hour before plunging 93% almost immediately.

According to the criticism, this collapse was not the results of mismanagement however the consequence of a system engineered for a fast extraction of worth. Blockchain forensics tie insider wallets to different alleged rug pulls, together with LIBRA, M3M3, AIAI, and the TRUMP snipe.

Can Welch Escape the Shadow of HAWK Now That New Fraud Allegations Have Surfaced?

Those named within the fraud allegations embody Memetic Labs, OverHere Limited, Clinton So, Alex “Doc Hollywood” Schultz, the Tuah Foundation, and several other linked pockets clusters.

Welch is not accused of securities violations or false promoting, however the swimsuit claims she benefited financially from a scheme that focused inexperienced merchants.

The lawsuit attracts comparisons to different high-profile meme token implosions. LIBRA, promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei, collapsed hours after launch and is now on the heart of a number of investigations, though the country’s anti-corruption watchdog later cleared Milei of wrongdoing.

Earlier this yr, TRUMP, a Solana token that includes Donald Trump’s branding, also tanked days after launch. Burwick Law alleges all these initiatives shared comparable on-chain patterns and insider buying and selling behaviors.

Welch’s relationship to HAWK has been turbulent for the reason that collapse. At the time, she issued a public apology, saying she was “totally cooperating” with legal professionals representing harmed traders.

Her authorized crew informed retailers that she acted solely as a paid promoter and had no information of the technical or monetary operations behind the undertaking.

In later interviews, Welch said federal agents questioned her and briefly seized her telephone throughout their evaluate.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the end cleared her, and the influencer mentioned the ordeal left her regretful that her involvement misled followers.

The renewed push to add her as a defendant marks essentially the most important flip since traders first filed swimsuit in December 2024, reporting greater than $151,000 in losses from the crash.

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