Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the family of former US President Donald Trump. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty froze Sun's $WLFI tokens without justification, made false representations, and issued threats against him. According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being solicited by World Liberty's team in 2024, partly due to the project's claimed support for decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family.
However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's attitude towards him allegedly became hostile. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the rights and freedoms associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about governance rights and the ability to transact freely. It is also alleged that World Liberty exerted centralized control over its tokens, contrary to its decentralized finance claims.
In August 2025, World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to introduce a 'blacklisting' function, which allowed the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors or putting it to a governance vote. The lawsuit argues that this modification enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, which served the dual purpose of pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin on the Tron blockchain and artificially propping up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by World Liberty's founders and treasury.
This ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may also raise regulatory concerns, potentially qualifying World Liberty as a money transmitter under US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules. The lawsuit further alleges that World Liberty made overt threats against Sun and his businesses, including a threat to burn his $WLFI tokens and a claim that his know-your-customer documentation was inadequate, with a warning to report him to US authorities. Sun has stated that he attempted to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks equal treatment as other early investors who received tokens.
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment on the lawsuit.