Investors filed a lawsuit on December 19 against several entities involved in the launch of the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) memecoin, alleging that the defendants engaged in the promotion and sale of unregistered securities products.
According to legal filings, defendants named in the suit include Tuah The Moon Foundation, OverHere Ltd, Clinton So and Alex Larson Schultz, who allegedly promoted Memecoin. The plaintiff’s attorney wrote:
“HAWK’s pre-launch marketing framed the token as more than a speculative asset, portraying it as a cultural movement with significant growth potential. Welch’s involvement and reputation as a trusted public figure gave her followers and potential investors the opportunity to build a following for the project. We have sent a signal that we are ready to succeed.”
The Hawk Tuah memecoin soared to a market capitalization of about $491 million after launch, but plummeted by more than 90% shortly after.
Investor lawsuit against Hawk Tuah creators. Source: Pacer
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The rise and fall of the Hawk Tuah memecoin
The Hawk Tuah memecoin was launched on December 4 with a market capitalization of approximately $16.6 million. After launch, the coin price soared, and in just 3 hours, Mimcoin’s market capitalization grew to $491 million. That number would then quickly drop to about $41.7 million.
This price action sparked significant backlash from investors on social media, who characterized the launch as a classic pump-and-dump scheme after the memecoin’s price plummeted.
Following the token collapse, some investors filed complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and encouraged others to do the same.
Haliey Welch, the social media influencer behind Memecoin, has denied claims that her team engaged in insider trading.
Popular YouTuber ‘Coffeezilla’ took to social media to dispel rumors about the release of HAWK.
The YouTuber claimed that Memecoin’s launch was bumpy and that her team pre-sold millions of tokens to “strategic advisors” who offloaded Memecoin early.
Coffeezilla added that claims that $500 million was pulled from the rug or that Welch made a $50 million profit from the token launch are also misinformation and exaggerations.
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