Haliey Welch, better known as the viral “Hawk Tuah Girl,” faced backlash after the failed launch of her memecoin $HAWK, which plunged more than 90 percent just hours after its launch. Now the 22-year-old internet personality is accused of defrauding investors.

This week, Welch tried to capitalize on her viral fame by launching her own memecoin – cryptocurrencies based on viral memes or pop culture references, such as Dogecoin and Pepecoin.

In conversation with Assets Before the launch, Welch insisted that her memecoin, called HAWK, was “not just a money grab.” However, less than 24 hours later, at least one investor has already filed a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

When HAWK launched on the Solana blockchain on Wednesday evening (December 4) at a price of $0.005492, it quickly rose by more than 900 percent and reached a market cap of $490 million. The price of the token peaked at $0.00004028 Crypto times reported before its market cap fell to $60 million, representing a whopping 91 percent loss in value.

Some attributed the rapid nosedive to insider wallets and snipers – companies that quickly buy up large amounts of a token supply at launch – who reportedly controlled between 80 and 90 percent of the HAWK supply. Accordingly CointelegraphOne wallet managed to buy 17.5 percent of the memecoin supply, then worth $993,000, and sell it less than two hours later for a profit of $1.3 million.

Many online commenters accused Welch and her team of a “pump-and-dump” system in which coins are purchased at a low price, heavily promoted to increase their value, and then sold at a peak, often by company insiders.

Welch has denied all allegations of insider trading, stating in an X/Twitter post that her team “did not sell any tokens and no KOL received a free token.”

“We tried to stop snipers as best we could by charging high fees at the start of the launch on @MeteoraAG,” she wrote. “The fees have now been removed.”

The Independent has reached out to Welch’s representatives for further comment.

Welch’s manager Jonnie Forster said this previously Assets that Welch will own 10 percent of the HAWK offering but won’t be able to sell it for a year.

“I don’t really look at it as gambling,” Welch told the outlet. “I think it’s a fun way to get my fans to interact.”

Still, that hasn’t stopped social media users from taking the crypto controversy lightly.

“She has to face the Talk Tuah judge soon,” one person wrote

Welch shot to viral fame as “The Hawk Tuah Girl” in June thanks to a NSFW street interview posted by YouTubers Tim Dickerson and DeArius Marlow. Since then, Welch has signed with an agent and started her own podcast. Say Tuah.