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In a recent controversy, FaZe Clan’s Ricky “Banks” Bengston criticized Haliey Welch’s team following the alleged leak of a podcast episode.
On February 6, 2025, FaZe Clan CEO Ricky “Banks” took to X to call out Hailey Welch’s team. He explained that he agreed to do the podcast under “heavy stipulations” to hear Hailey’s side of the story. The episode was meant to mark Welch’s return after a long hiatus. However, he alleged that the episode was either leaked or that Welch’s team engaged in insider trading. For context, Hailey faced controversy following accusations of a rug-pull involving her ‘Hawk’ token. The FaZe Clan co-founder stated that Welch’s team was “r**arded” and that she needed to fire everyone:
“Now @HalieyWelchX I’m going to speak to you direct and say the exact same thing I said to you on spaces that night. Fire everybody, your teams fucking r**arded.”
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
Hailey Welch went viral on social media after an interview where she said the iconic line “Hawk Tuah.” She has since started a podcast known as Talk Tuah, which has over 206K subscribers on YouTube. The podcast has 13 episodes out as of this writing, including episodes with celebrities and billionaires like Whitney Cummings, Mark Cuban, and Wiz Khalifa. Banks stated that their episode was meant to be the 14th installment of the podcast, marking Welch’s return after a two-month hiatus. However, he claimed that his team was assured they would have to explicitly approve the episode’s release.
“We were told this episode would only ever see the light of day if we explicitly green lit it.”
What Were FaZe Banks’ Stipulations for Hailey Welch’s Podcast?
In his tweet, Banks mentioned several stipulations for appearing on the podcast. Banks stipulated that the team must prevent market manipulation by keeping the episode’s existence confidential until a resolution was found. Another stipulation stated that Welch’s team should find a “real solution” regarding the money she made via the ‘Hawk’ coin. The team should also provide information on where the money will go and what will be the updates on the ‘Hawk’ project.
“Not allowing markets to be manipulated by leaking this episodes existence before a resolution was found. Her team finding a REAL solution regarding the money she made, where that should go and what to do with the $HAWK project moving forward.”
Despite his conditions, the podcast episode was leaked on the internet, causing a flux in the Hawk coin. Following this, Banks has called off the episode’s release. In his tweet accusing the Hawk team, he stated:
“These incompetent r**ards leaked and/ or inside traded the token. We noticed a random spike in volume on the coin 2/2 along with random messages asking us if we did the podcast. Very clearly her team was not as solid as they claimed to be. They completely blew it and we called the episode off right then and there.”
Several users from the crypto community reacted to the situation and voiced their opinions. Kick streamer Adin Ross also commented on Banks’ post via his crypto account on X. Adin wrote:
“Oh na banks is hawk tua’ing all over her and the team.”
Oh na banks is hawk tua’ing all over her and the team
— AR15CRYPTO (@AR15CRYPTO) February 6, 2025
What Is the Hawk Tuah Crypto Scam?
For the uninitiated, Hailey Welch was embroiled in controversy after she ventured into cryptocurrency by launching the $HAWK token on the Solana blockchain. The token initially achieved a market capitalization nearing $500 million but soon experienced a significant decline to approximately $25 million. After which, the team was accused of rug pulling the coin. Popular investigative YouTuber Coffeezilla made an extensive video explaining the supposed “scam.” The YouTuber confronted the team, after which, they denied the accusations.
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