Haliey Welch, the internet personality known for the "Hawk Tuah" viral moment, has been named in a new filing for an existing class action lawsuit against a meme coin project she promoted last year. Welch was initially excluded from the lawsuit, which was filed shortly after the Solana-based token's launch and subsequent collapse.
Law Firm Seeks to Amend Complaint to Include Welch and Others
Burwick Law, the firm representing plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, had previously stated that Welch was intentionally left out of the case to optimize the process of making clients whole. However, the law firm has now formally requested the court's permission to amend its class action complaint. This amendment seeks to add Welch, her manager Johnnie Fortster, and her company 16 Minutes LLC as defendants in the ongoing litigation.
Hawk Tuah Lawsuit
The law firm has also introduced new allegations of fraud and is requesting an order that would allow for alternative methods of serving the existing defendants, Clinton So and OverHere Limited. This development follows a now-deleted X post by Welch in which she stated she was "fully cooperating" with Burwick Law to "uncover the truth" behind the token's collapse.
According to the new filing, Welch's company, 16 Minutes LLC, entered into a "Meme Token Creation and Monetization Agreement" with Memetic Labs approximately five months prior to the token's launch. Under this agreement, Welch was obligated to promote the token across all her social media channels. In exchange, she received an upfront payment of $125,000, with an additional $200,000 contingent upon achieving specific promotional milestones.
Burwick Law stated in the new filing that these payments "transformed Welch from a passive celebrity into a critical component of a coordinated marketing funnel designed to draw in retail purchasers who trusted her." The suit also indicates that Memetic Labs was granted a 50% lifetime profit share based on the token's trading activity.
Allegations of a Premeditated Collapse for the HAWK Token
Haliey Welch gained significant public attention in 2024 following an unscripted interview where she shared her "hawk tuah" sexual technique. She leveraged this viral moment to launch a successful podcast and expand her online following to millions.
Welch further capitalized on her fame by launching the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) token, which the new filing describes as a "transformational cultural token." The intention, according to the filing, was for the token to be integrated with Welch's podcast to provide subscription-style benefits. However, Burwick Law's suit contends that the token lacked the necessary technical components to establish this system.
Despite the alleged lack of technical infrastructure, the meme coin reportedly achieved a market capitalization of $490 million in under 15 minutes after its launch. Subsequently, the token's value experienced a dramatic collapse, dropping by 93%.
Data from DEX Screener indicates that HAWK currently holds a market cap of $1.7 million and is trading at $0.0001761 as of 5:28 a.m. EST. While the token has seen a price increase of over 2% in the last 24 hours, this appears to be a temporary respite from a sustained downtrend observed over recent weeks.
Burwick Law's suit alleges that the token's collapse was not accidental but rather a planned outcome. The law firm claims the meme coin was intentionally designed for this purpose. The filing further states that insiders acquired substantial portions of the token's supply before selling off $1.27 million worth of the meme coin mere minutes after its market debut.
"The pseudonymous wallets orchestrating the scam were not random actors," the firm asserted, adding that on-chain forensic analysis indicates the same wallet clusters were involved in multiple other "rug pulls," including "LIBRA, M3M3, AIAI, and the infamous TRUMP snipe."
The suit concluded by stating, "The timing patterns, funding flows, and extraction methods across these schemes are nearly identical." It is important to note that the claims made in the new filing are currently allegations, and the court has not yet rendered any findings in this case.