NWA Secures Dismissal of $16.5 Billion Class Action Against Solana Labs and Solana Foundation

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In a 79-page decision that was trending on Twitter and widely reported in the press, NWA secured the dismissal of RICO class action claims seeking $16.5 billion against its clients Solana Labs, Solana Foundation, and their respective officers and directors.

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The suit was brought by retail token purchasers on Pump.fun—a platform created by Baton Corp. and built on Solana—that allows users to create, buy, and sell their own tokens. The Plaintiffs’ theory was that the alleged RICO enterprise (i.e., Solana Labs, Solana Foundation, and Baton) was rigging the market at the expense of retail purchasers.

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Although Judge McMahon of the SDNY sustained claims against other purported enterprise members, she adopted NWA’s argument that the allegations that Solana Labs / Solana Foundation created and maintained Solana, gave technical support, generally touted the success of Pump.fun, and perhaps benefitted from the success of Pump.fun, did not show they took the next step of agreeing to participate in a fraudulent scheme to defraud retail purchasers.

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In dismissing the claims, the Court also accepted NWA’s arguments on two novel issues.  First, in an important decision for all blockchain creators and software developers, the Court held that Solana Labs/Solana Foundation are not money transmitters under 18 U.S.C. § 1960 because they only allegedly created and maintained the Solana blockchain through which others may operate.  Second, the Court held that meme token trading does not constitute criminal gambling.

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The NWA team was led by Greg Wolfe and included Joe Baier and Yiyang Wang.  The case is Aguilar v. Baton Corp., 2026 WL 2568764 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 31, 2026).‍

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Read the decision here.