Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Anadolu/Getty Images/Michael Tullberg
Topics: Cryptocurrency, Hawk Tuah girl, Social Media
Emily Brown
Topics: Cryptocurrency, Hawk Tuah girl, Social Media
Internet personality Haliey Welch, perhaps better known as 'Hawk Tuah Girl', has spoken out after a lawsuit was filed over the collapse of her 'memecoin' cryptocurrency.
Welch responded after a class action lawsuit was filed by Burwick Law yesterday (December 19), in relation to the rapid collapse of her crypto, called $HAWK.
The coin launched earlier this month and initially received support from Welch's fans, but within 20 minutes of its launch, the coin plummeted from as much as $490 million to just $41 million.
The sudden drop in value caused backlash from Welch's fans, with one person calling her out online as they wrote: "I am a huge fan of Hawk Tuah but you took my life savings. I purchased your coin $Hawk that you were so excited about with my life savings and children’s college education fund as well."
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Welch initially responded to the backlash on December 6, when she appeared to defend the launch of the coin as she copied and pasted a message to her followers on Twitter.
"Hawkanomics: Team hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token," the message read.
"We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high fee’s in the start of launch on @MeteoraAG. Fee’s [sic] have now been dropped."
But after two weeks of silence from the social media star, investors who were left out of pocket are taking the matter to court.
A document filed on behalf of the investors explained in part that the lawsuit 'arises from the unlawful promotion and sale of the Hawk Tuah cryptocurrency memecoin, known as the "$HAWK" token (the "Token" or "$HAWK"), which Defendants offered and sold to the public without proper registration'.
The lawsuit did not directly name Welch, but instead claimed her social media following had been used to market the coin by defendants including Tuah The Moon Foundation, which oversaw the memecoin's finances; OverHere Ltd, which created the coin; Clinton So, executive at OverHere; and the coin's promoter Alex Larson Schultz.
In response to the news of the lawsuit statement, Welch hoped to assure her fans and anyone who had invested in the cryptocurrency as she said on Twitter: "I take this situation extremely seriously and want to address my fans, the investors who have been affected, and the broader community.
"I am fully cooperating with and am committed to assisting the legal team representing the individuals impacted, as well as to help uncover the truth, hold the responsible parties accountable, and resolve this matter. If you have experienced losses related to this, please contact Burwick Law using the link below: https://www.burwick.law/newclient."