Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm backed by the family of former US President Donald Trump. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty unfairly seized Sun's $WLFI holdings, made false representations, and threatened and defamed 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 claims of promoting decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family.
However, when Sun declined to invest further in 2025, World Liberty's principals became hostile towards him. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder rights and the freedom to transact.
It is also alleged that World Liberty has centralized control over its tokens, contrary to its decentralized finance claims. The company modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, which allowed it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this to investors.
The lawsuit argues that this modification was used to freeze Sun's tokens, pressuring him to mint $200 million of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that World Liberty's actions may raise regulatory questions, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter under US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules.
Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and report him to US authorities. Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation amicably but seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.