Viral internet sensation Hailey Welch, known for her “Hawk Tuah” interview, faces a lawsuit after investors lost thousands of dollars in yet another botched celebrity Solana meme coin launch.
The “Hawk Tuah girl” might have to talk tuah a judge whenever she finally wakes up.
U.S. law firm Burwick Law filed a federal lawsuit against Hailey Welch and three other individuals behind the lackluster Hawk Tuah Solana meme coin launched in early December.
Welch grew into a prominent social media influencer after a viral interview where she described certain intimate relations. Months later, she and her team, Tuah the Moon Foundation, in partnership with OverHere Limited, Clinton So, and Alex Larson Schultz, aka Doc Hollywood, released a meme coin styled after her popular “Hawk Tuah” phrase.
Like many celebrity Solana (SOL) launches, HAWK skyrocketed immediately after its debut and peaked at a $500 million market capitalization. Minutes later, the token fell 90% and tumbled under $50 million. The token traded at a market cap of under $8 million by publishing time.
Outraged investors and data providers quickly discovered the HAWK token was highly clustered. Team wallets supposedly linked to Welch and other insiders held 96% of the coin’s supply.
The controversy reached a new high when observers discovered these wallets sold large amounts of HAWK’s supply, despite Welch claiming she and her team were still holding.
Burwick Law encouraged HAWK buyers to lodge formal complaints with the firm amid the contentious aftermath. The firm’s lawsuit named four defendants, including Welch, OverHere, So, and Doc Hollywood, and noted 12 U.S. residents as plaintiffs with $151,000 in collective losses. Burwick has filed several lawsuits against celebrities for launching meme coins that allegedly became exit scams and rug pulls.
On Dec. 17, two days before the federal lawsuit was filed, OverHere pushed the blame onto Doc Hollywood, claiming the entity made nothing from the launch.
OverHere admitted its silence was the wrong move and insisted the company’s mistake was trusting the wrong partners. Doc Hollywood has locked his X account since the social media fracas and has seemingly gone underground.
Welch, the Hawk Tuah girl herself, has been MIA since appearing on a Dec. 5 live X Spaces event. Her attempts to address the rug pull rumors clashed with angry buyers who wanted answers.
In response, Welch said, “Anyhoo, I’m going to go to bed and see you guys tomorrow.” Fourteen days later, Welch remains unavailable, and requests for comment sent to her team have gone unanswered.
Source: https://crypto.news/hawk-tuah-hailey-welch-sued-over-50m-meme-coin-debacle/