Internet Star Haliey Welch, Known as the 'Hawk Tuah Girl,' Says She's 'Fully Cooperating' With Attorneys Representing People Impacted by the Recent Crash of Crypto Meme Coin $HAWK

Welch helped launch the cryptocurrency, named after her viral catchphrase, earlier this month. Within hours after the digital coin was made available, its price plummeted and the 22-year-old influencer faced accusations that it was a scam.

Haliey Welch, the internet star known for her viral catchphrase "Hawk Tuah," is now facing a class-action lawsuit over her involvement in the recent crash of crypto meme coin $HAWK.

Welch helped launch the cryptocurrency, which is named after her catchphrase, earlier this month. Within hours after the digital coin became available, its price plummeted and the 22-year-old influencer faced accusations that it was a scam. At the time, Welch’s team blamed “snipers” — bots programmed to buy tokens immediately upon launch and sell when prices spike — for causing the market cap fluctuation.

Investors of the $HAWK coin filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the coin’s creators, accusing the company overHere Ltd., its founder, Clinton So, Tuah The Moon Foundation and social media influencer Alex Larson Schultz of unlawfully promoting and selling cryptocurrency that they say was never properly registered with the SEC.

A copy of the lawsuit, which was obtained by NBC News, shows that it was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Welch is not listed as a defendant in the suit.

Welch addressed the lawsuit in a post on X on Friday, where she urged those who “experienced losses related to this” to contact the law firm Burwick PLLC.

“I take this situation extremely seriously and want to address my fans, the investors who have been affected, and the broader community,” she wrote. “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.”

A spokesperson for Welch did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on Friday.

According to a news release from Burwick PLLC, which teamed up with Wolf Popper LLC on the case, $HAWK’s token market capitalization "surged" to $491 million after launching on Dec. 4. However, the news release adds that "its meteoric rise was short-lived, as the $HAWK token's value plummeted by over 90% within hours, dropping below $100 million."

“This extreme volatility left many investors, particularly first-time cryptocurrency investors drawn in by Haliey Welch’s involvement, facing significant financial losses,” the two firms said in the joint statement on Friday.

Wolf Popper LLP and Burwick Law said they are “seeking to recover on behalf of the plaintiffs’ and the class’s purchases of $HAWK tokens.”

Welch's involvement in the crypto space comes after months of her building her brand. Since June, when her interview went viral, she has cashed in on her success with Hawk Tuah-themed merch, her podcast “Talk Tuah” and the launch of her AI dating assistant app Pookie Tools.

In the days leading up to the $HAWK's launch, she promoted it in several posts on X. In an interview with Fortune, she said she used to think of crypto as “just a scam” and an “easy way for you to lose money.” But after attending several cryptocurrency conferences, she said she began seeing it as a “good way to interact with fans.”

In a Dec. 4 post on X following the initial controversy, Welch said that she and the people behind the coin have not sold any of their holdings.

Memecoins are cryptocurrencies, such as DOGE (named after the iconic doge meme) and MOODENG (named after the viral baby pygmy hippo), that are inspired by internet memes. Their performance in the market can be volatile, largely depending on the hype generated by social media trends. But some memecoins have also courted controversy, and celebrities who have touted crypto coins without transparency about their financial incentives have faced scrutiny and legal action.

In a joint statement on X on Friday, Wolf Popper LLP and Burwick Law wrote, “Sadly, this is one of many memecoin cases where institutional greed has exploited celebrities and their influence to harm everyday people