Pump.fun teases $5M base salary for legal chief as court drama persists

Baton Corporation, the UK-registered company behind Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, posted a job listing on June 24 for a Chief Legal Officer (CLO) with a salary range of $1 million to $5 million per year.

Co-founder Alon Cohen promoted the opening, stating that they are searching for someone who can own the company’s regulatory and litigation posture.

Baton is currently fighting a consolidated class action in the Southern District of New York that accuses the platform of selling unregistered securities. The plaintiffs also allege that under a separate RICO theory, Baton is operating a racketeering enterprise. 

Is Pump.fun under legal siege?

The job posting itself reveals numbers that Baton has not widely publicized. The listing, hosted on Solana’s job board, states that Pump.fun processes more than $300 million in daily trading volume and generated over $500 million in profit last year with a team of fewer than 100 people.

Pump.fun was geo-blocked from the United Kingdom in 2024 after FCA action, according to a Change.org petition calling for a coordinated European criminal investigation into Baton’s operations.

The same petition cites on-chain analysis from Dune Analytics showing that more than 60% of roughly 4.25 million wallets that traded on Pump.fun lost money, with nearly 1,700 wallets losing over $100,000 each.

What is Pump.fun’s legal strategy to the lawsuits?

The class action was filed by lead plaintiff Diego Aguilar through Wolf Popper LLP, and it alleges that tokens launched through Pump.fun qualify as unregistered securities under Sections 5 and 12(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933.

However, it is not the only lawsuit that Pump.fun is facing as a separate complaint was filed on January 16, 2025. This complaint focuses on the PNUT token, a Solana memecoin that plaintiffs say reached a $1 billion market capitalization before falling 89% from its peak.

Brown Rudnick LLP has been the law firm representing Baton on retainer.

The RICO statute allows treble damages, the case is sized at approximately $5.5 billion, and plaintiffs have asked the court to appoint a receiver to take control of Baton’s operations. This means that Baton could suffer immensely should the rulings not go in its favor.

Why pay $5 million for a lawyer

A $5 million base would place the CLO among the highest-paid legal officers in crypto, and it speaks to how seriously Baton is treating its legal risk. 

The listing states that the candidate should have at least 10 years of experience, a New York Bar admission, and direct experience managing regulatory investigations and enforcement actions.

The CLO role will be reporting to a general counsel and covers US digital asset regulation (SEC, CFTC, FinCEN, OFAC), UK FCA compliance, EU MiCA obligations, and litigation management across jurisdictions.

The trial date for the Aguilar case has not been set; however, the court docket shows that the most recent filing date is April 14, 2026.