In the summer of 2024, a street interview phrase "Hawk Tuah" made Haliey Welch an overnight sensation, becoming a hot topic across the internet. However, just a few months later, this internet celebrity was caught in a crypto scam controversy - the meme coin HAWK she "endorsed" collapsed, with investors accusing her of fraud, and the FBI even directly raiding her home, with the SEC launching an investigation.
In the latest episode of the 'Talk Tuah' Podcast on May 20th, Welch detailed this nightmare-like experience for the first time:
The FBI not only raided her grandmother's house but also took her to Nashville for hours of interrogation, "They went through every single message on my phone, asking about all contacts related to cryptocurrency."
Welch recalled, her voice still trembling. This overnight internet celebrity admitted that this experience nearly landed her in prison and left countless trusting fans with devastating losses.
Background Overview
After going viral last year, Haliey Welch quickly capitalized on her popularity, not only launching related merchandise but also interacting with celebrities, appearing on 'Saturday Night Live' for a parody, and even throwing the first pitch for the New York Mets. In September, she launched the 'Talk Tuah' Podcast, featuring heavyweight guests like billionaire Mark Cuban, which was rated by Edison Research as the "Fastest Growing New Podcast of 2024" in February.
In December, Haliey Welch launched the "Hawk Tuah" token (HAWK) named after her signature catchphrase. HAWK's collapse was shocking. On its first day of listing, its market value plummeted from a peak of $500 million to just $25 million, a drop of 95%. Such a drastic price fluctuation immediately raised market suspicions, with many accusing it of a typical "pump and dump" scam. Despite Welch's team's firm denial, multiple industry professionals, including crypto debunker Coffeezilla with 4 million followers, publicly criticized the issuance.
In a live confrontation with Welch's team, Coffeezilla bluntly stated that $HAWK's issuance was "the worst, most miserable crypto currency issuance" he had ever seen, directly accusing it of insider trading. This controversy not only severely damaged Welch's internet celebrity image but also drew more attention to the huge risks behind meme coin investments.
The HAWK project was accused of fraud by investors, who filed a lawsuit demanding $1.8 million in damages. After the incident broke out, Haliey Welch immediately suspended all social media activities and podcast updates, cooperating with FBI and SEC investigations.
(The following content is compiled by the Bitpush team based on the podcast interview)
FBI Raids Grandmother's House, SEC Clones Phone for Evidence
"They knocked directly on my grandmother's door, almost giving the elderly a heart attack," Welch recalled in the latest episode of the 'Talk Tuah' Podcast.
After the $HAWK coin collapsed, the FBI quickly intervened, with agents not only searching her home but also taking her to Nashville for interrogation. "A room full of men took turns questioning me, asking me to explain all cryptocurrency-related contacts, even going through every record on my phone."
More disturbingly, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subsequently got involved. "They didn't come to talk to me, but directly took my phone and returned it three days later." Welch speculated that investigators might have cloned her device to extract all data.
Although she was ultimately not included in the lawsuit and cleared legally, the psychological shadow from this incident has not dissipated.
After the incident broke out, Hailey and her team experienced enormous pressure. Their phones were "harassed" with malicious information, they were confronted at airports with people asking "Where's my money?", and they even received death threats, including someone threatening to "chop her up and feed her to dogs". She went into hiding, fearing public hatred.
'Puppet' Promotion: Knowing Nothing About Crypto
The $HAWK collapse was not accidental. Welch revealed that she initially knew almost nothing about cryptocurrency and acknowledged her lack of knowledge. Ultimately, after multiple recommendations from her agent, she was attracted by the project's promising prospects. The project promised to pay marketing fees and donate to her charity, making her feel it was a good business.
She stated that the project initially described the task as "very low workload", only requiring her to record a selfie video based on their script and send it to the operators, who would post it on her Twitter account. Hailey even revealed that she didn't even have the Twitter app on her phone, was unfamiliar with the platform, and didn't know the crypto community members gathered by the project operators. Everything she posted was almost entirely what the other party told her to read, and she was completely unaware of its meaning.
She mentioned in the Podcast: "They promised it was a good project, and I just needed to shoot some promotional videos to receive the promotion fee."
However, the actual situation was far more complex than she imagined - her Twitter account was completely controlled by the project team, and she had never even installed the app. All tweets and interactions were operated by the behind-the-scenes team.
In December, $HAWK was officially launched, and Welch was invited to a cryptocurrency conference. But on the day of the release, the famous fact-checking blogger Coffeezilla suddenly burst into the live stream, questioning the project's authenticity. "They immediately muted me, and the scene was chaotic," Welch recalled, "That's when I realized something might be wrong."
Indeed, the $HAWK token price plummeted 99.8% within 48 hours, leaving investors with nothing. Blockchain data showed abnormal large transfers from the project team's wallet, involving up to 1200 ETH (approximately $4.3 million), and Welch firmly claimed she "didn't get a single penny": "All promotion fees were ultimately used to pay for lawyers and crisis management."
"Investors' actual loss is $180,000, not $1.2 million"
Initially, rumors circulated that the $HAWK collapse caused $1.2 million in losses, but Welch clarified in the Podcast that the actual loss was around $180,000 (approximately 1.26 million yuan), with the remaining funds possibly swept away by "sniper bots" or speculators. However, this did not alleviate her sense of guilt.
"What hurts me most are the fans' private messages," Welch said. "Some said this was their children's tuition fees, some lost their entire month's living expenses..." She admitted that she understood too little about cryptocurrency at the time and blindly trusted the project team's promises, ultimately making her trusting fans victims. She added that this experience taught her an important lesson about who to trust. Hailey stated she had "nothing to hide" and lamented, "I wish we had known then what we know now."
Today, although legally proven innocent, Welch said this experience left her with a profound lesson. "If someone asks me to promote cryptocurrency again, I'll punch them directly," the internet celebrity stated. She now only wants to return to her previous peaceful life and seriously create video content with friends.
