Murky group behind ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl Haliey Welch’s failed meme coin sued by investors

The shady group behind “Hawk Tuah” girl Haliey Welch’s meme coin — which crashed hours after its launch — was sued by investors for failing to register the cryptocurrency, according to court records filed Thursday.

The coin was inspired by Welch, 22, who shot to internet fame earlier this year after making a cheeky comment during the TikTok video that went viral. She has since capitalized on her newfound fame with custom merchandise and a podcast, “Talk Tuah.”

The lawsuit alleges that the Cayman Island-based sellers, as well as the promoters, behind the “$HAWK Token” used Welch’s fame to falsely promote the meme coin as a registered security.

Welch had been eagerly plugging the meme coin’s launch on his podcast and to his 2.6 million Instagram followers.

The suit, filed in the First US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, called Tuah The Moon Foundation; overHere Ltd and its founder Clinton So, who launched the coin; and social media influencer Alex Larson Schultz, also known as Doc Hollywood, who accused.

Welch was not named in the lawsuit.

The coin hit a market cap of $490 million shortly after its launch on December 4 – but fell more than 90% to less than $100 million within hours.

A pre-sale of the coin had raised approximately $2.8 million worth $16.69 million ahead of the launch date, the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote in the suit.

The investors said they lost more than $151,000.

The day after the coin’s turbulent launch, So Tuah turned the Foundation into an offshore entity and sold 17% of the tokens through the foundation to a group of people to escape securities laws, according to the complaint.

But the sellers behind the coin continued to promote the remaining 83% of the tokens and made “no serious attempt” to ensure that those who bought the coins were outside the United States, the suit said.

“The project was clearly intended to take advantage of the US market,” the complaint said.

That “literally said the token holders would essentially be shareholders,” the plaintiffs said.

But the $HAWK token was never registered as a security by the defendants, according to the suit.

“We have been extremely transparent about the limited scope and extent of our involvement in the Hawk Tuah token project,” an overHere spokesperson told Bloomberg. “We are convinced that we have done nothing wrong.”

Despite the coin bearing her “Hawk Tuah” mark, there has been radio silence on the controversy from Welch. She has not posted on her social media or uploaded a new podcast episode since the coin crashed.

Welch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.