- Haliey Welch says she didn’t understand crypto at all when $HAWK launched and lost everything she earned to legal and PR costs.
- She was cleared by the FBI and SEC but was subjected to intense scrutiny and frightening threats.
- A lawsuit is ongoing against those who allegedly created and promoted the coin, though Welch herself was not named.
Haliey “Hawk Tuah” Welch finally broke her silence about the $HAWK meme coin fiasco that sent her viral fame crashing into chaos. Speaking on her podcast Talking Tuah, Welch admitted she knew absolutely nothing about cryptocurrency when her name got tied to the doomed token. “I couldn’t tell you how crypto worked the day that coin launched,” she said, adding that the whole thing “screwed me” because she trusted people she shouldn’t have. The coin soared to a $500 million market cap—and then it all collapsed in hours, wiping out nearly every investor.
Viral Fame Meets Federal Investigations
After the coin imploded, Welch disappeared from the spotlight, halted her podcast, and found herself caught in a mess way over her head. The FBI and SEC began looking into the coin’s sudden rise and fall, with Welch’s legal team advising her to stay quiet. Although she was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, the scrutiny didn’t come cheap. “I paid for PR crisis, a new lawyer, stuff like that… every bit of it went to that,” she said, revealing she didn’t make a single dollar off the coin itself, only a marketing fee.
Online Threats and a Visit From the Feds
Welch shared how the backlash spiraled out of control. From threats online to getting stopped at an airport, she said the hate was so intense she feared for her life. One man even messaged her saying he’d “chop me up and feed me to his dog.” Things got so serious, the FBI showed up at her grandma’s house. “She called me, having a heart attack, and said, ‘The FBI is here after you. What have you done?’” Welch recalled. After an interview in Nashville and a full phone search, agents told her she was not in legal trouble.
The Real Players Behind the Coin
Though Welch avoided legal charges, others weren’t so lucky. A class-action lawsuit filed in New York named Clinton So and influencer Alex Larson Schultz as the creators and promoters of $HAWK. Welch says she still can’t publicly name the person who dragged her into it but feels deeply guilty for anyone who trusted her endorsement. “It makes me feel really bad… I got talked into it, and I trusted the wrong people.”
Looking Back, No Regrets—but Also, No Gains
Despite being cleared, Welch says the entire ordeal left her emotionally and financially drained. “It was a big mess,” she said. Now, with her legal trouble behind her and her podcast revived, she seems determined to move forward—though the experience has clearly left a mark. “Legally, I wasn’t in any trouble. But yeah… it was scary.”
