Internet celebrity Haliey Welch is being sued for her involvement in the HAWK Token crash event, involving $325,000 in paid marketing.

According to Cryptonews, internet celebrity Haliey Welch, widely known for the “Hawk Tuah” incident, is now embroiled in a new legal dispute. A cryptocurrency law firm has named her as a defendant in a federal class action lawsuit related to the collapse of the $HAWK Token last year.

According to the latest documents submitted to the Eastern District Court of New York, Welch and his broker Johnnie Forster, along with their company 16 Minutes LLC, are suspected of playing a key role in promoting a Token referred to by lawyers as a “crash in minutes,” allowing insiders to sell off during the early stages of the Token issuance and thus make substantial profits.

Previously, the Burwick Law firm, which is leading this case, did not list Welch as a defendant. Now, the plaintiffs claim that new evidence shows that Welch profited up to $325,000 from participating in the project and became a “key link” in a meticulously planned promotional channel that attracted many retail buyers who trusted her public image.

The updated complaint states that Welch agreed to pay a prepayment of $125,000 and an additional $200,000 tied to promotional milestones five months after signing the “Meme Token Creation and Monetization Agreement” with Memetic Labs.

The complaint states that these funds elevated her from a passive sponsor to an indispensable part of the Token marketing channel, even though the project allegedly made promises that could not be fulfilled.

Welch rose to fame online in 2024 with a viral street interview video, and later launched the Talk Tuah podcast. She promoted HAWK as a cultural Token that would integrate with her show and offer subscription-based benefits. The plaintiffs argue that these features are technically impossible to achieve.

HAWK is issued based on Solana and had a stunning yet brief debut. Its market value soared to $490 million in less than 15 minutes, before almost immediately plummeting by 93%.

According to the complaint, this collapse was not caused by mismanagement, but rather by a system designed to quickly extract value. Blockchain forensics linked internal wallets to other suspected “runaway” incidents, including LIBRA, M3M3, AIAI, and the TRUMP sniping incident.