Haliey Welch, higher often known as the “Hawk tuah woman,” says the Federal Bureau of Investigation briefly probed her after her “memecoin catastrophe” — the failed launch of a token in her picture that she promoted.
Welch mentioned in a Might 21 episode of her “Speak Tuah” podcast that the FBI confirmed up at her grandmother’s home trying to converse to her over the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) crypto token, which many crypto commentators have referred to as an exit rip-off.
“After the coin launch, the feds got here to granny’s home and knocked on her door, and she or he referred to as me, having a coronary heart assault, saying: ‘The FBI is right here after you, what have you ever achieved?’”
Welch mentioned she handed over her cellphone to the FBI and met with brokers who “interrogated me, asking me questions and all the pieces else associated to crypto.”
“They cleared me, I used to be good to go,” Welch mentioned.
Welch went viral for her response about an oral intercourse approach in a vox pop interview posted to YouTube in June.
The HAWK memecoin, based mostly on her viral catchphrase, launched in early December and nearly instantly misplaced 90% of its worth and blockchain analytics agency Bubblemaps’ alleged insider wallets and snipers purchased up and dumped large portions of the token at launch.
Welch mentioned on her podcast that the Securities and Trade Fee additionally requested for her cellphone, and she or he despatched it off “for 2 or three days” earlier than she was cleared.
Welch’s lawyer James Sallah instructed TMZ in March that the SEC “closed the investigation with out making any findings towards, or looking for any financial sanctions from, Haliey.”
“I trusted the flawed folks”
Welch admitted understanding little or no about crypto earlier than the HAWK memecoin and mentioned she “trusted the flawed folks” for the launch.
She claimed an organization, which she mentioned she couldn’t identify for authorized causes, was in full management of her X account, which posted movies of her selling the memecoin.
Welch mentioned she was despatched traces to file on video, which had been then posted on her X account by somebody she trusted however may additionally not legally identify.
She added that on the day of HAWK’s launch, she “type of knew one thing was up” and was pulled right into a room the place a workforce of individuals instructed her to speak on a livestream with YouTuber Stephen Findeisen, higher often known as Coffeezilla.
“Coffeezilla obtained on there they usually’re like ‘Mute it, mute it,’” Welch mentioned. “No person warned me about this man in any respect, like no one in any respect, they did not inform me he was like a crypto wizard, that is precisely what he’s — he ate me the fuck up.”
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Welch mentioned she was solely paid a advertising price and “didn’t make a dime from the coin itself,” which she mentioned had been completely spent on authorized and public relations charges.
Regardless of being cleared of any authorized wrongdoing, Welch took some accountability, admitting that she let lots of her followers down who invested within the coin:
“It makes me really feel actually dangerous that they trusted me, and I led them to one thing that I didn’t have sufficient data about. I didn’t have sufficient data about crypto to be getting concerned with it. And I knew that, however I obtained talked into it, and I trusted the flawed folks.”
A gaggle of HAWK patrons sued the alleged creators of the token in December, claiming Alex Schultz, the token’s backing Tuah the Moon Basis, the token launchpad overHere Restricted, and its founder Clinton So promoted and offered HAWK as an unregistered safety.
Welch wasn’t named as a defendant.
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