Haliey Welch, known as the "Hawk Tuah" girl, has landed in fresh controversy after a leaked podcast episode reignited scrutiny over her failed meme coin, $HAWK.
The episode, which featured FaZe Clan co-founder Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson, was uploaded prematurely before being quickly removed—but not before screenshots and clips circulated online.
Welch, who went viral in 2024 before launching her controversial Solana-based crypto token in December, had been silent since its collapse. The project immediately faced backlash from crypto analysts like Coffeezilla and Banks, who called it a "mismanaged scam." Banks had previously urged Welch to fire her team over the coin’s disastrous rollout.
Banks took to X (formerly Twitter) on February 6, 2025, slamming Welch’s team for the premature leak, which led to a spike in $HAWK’s trading volume. He revealed that he had agreed to appear on her Talk Tuah podcast under strict conditions, including preventing market manipulation and establishing a clear resolution for the token’s mismanagement.
So in an attempt to hear Haliey Welch’s side of the Crypto scam story, I agreed to do her first podcast back.
— FaZe Banks (@Banks) February 6, 2025
I had heavy stipulations including;
1) Not allowing markets to be manipulated by leaking this episodes existence before a resolution was found.
2) Her team finding… pic.twitter.com/X3TW5nZmtR
"Now today, the episode ‘randomly’ gets leaked. The price of $HAWK is pumping, and they completely fumbled the bag, yet again," Banks wrote, accusing Welch’s team of insider trading and mishandling the situation.
Welch has yet to issue a statement on the podcast leak, and the episode remains absent from her YouTube channel. With renewed scrutiny on her crypto dealings, the controversy surrounding Welch and her failed meme coin shows no signs of slowing down.
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