Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Nothing sums up the spirit of our current times like Haliey Welch—a.k.a. Hawk Tuah Girl—becoming an overnight celebrity only to see her rapid rise lead to a meteoric downfall after she ended up at the center of a cryptocurrency scam. However, she’s gotten some good news after the SEC decided to take a closer look at the scandal.
It’s been close to eight months since Haliey Welch was thrust into the spotlight courtesy of the interview she conducted on the streets of Nashville before the internet dubbed her “Hawk Tuah Girl” thanks to the bedroom advice she dished out during that interaction.
The Tennessee native didn’t waste any time cashing in on her newfound fame, as she started selling branded merch, got paid some hefty sums to essentially just show up to a number of events, and eventually launched the Talk Tuah podcast that saw its production come to a sudden halt thanks to what unfolded at the end of 2024.
In December, Welch started promoting the launch of the $HAWK meme coin that initially saw its market capitalization soar to $500 million before crashing down to $25 million in what had all the makings of one of the many textbook rug pulls that have repeatedly generated some major drama in that particular sphere of the cryptocurrency space.
Welch basically disappeared off the face of the planet for a few weeks before proclaiming her innocence in a statement where she asserted she wasn’t involved in the scheme while pledging to cooperate with investigators who were tasked with determining if fraud had been committed.
According to TMZ, Welch has seemingly been vindicated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, as her attorney released a statement discussing the results of the investigation the organization conducted into the matter, saying:
“The SEC closed the investigation without making any findings against, or seeking any monetary sanctions from, Haliey.
Because they did not bring any action against her, there are no restrictions on what she can do in regards to crypto or securities in the future.”
That would seem to imply Welch hasn’t ruled out the possibility of getting back in on the meme coin action after she recently reappeared online in what appears to be a quest to salvage what is now an incredibly tarnished brand, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds.