Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the family of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges that World Liberty Financial unjustly locked up Sun's $WLFI token holdings, engaged in fraudulent activities, and made threats and defamatory statements against him. According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being approached by World Liberty's team in 2024, partly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its claims of promoting decentralized finance.
However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the USD1 stablecoin, World Liberty's leadership allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made false representations about the rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about governance rights and the freedom to transact.
It is also alleged that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, exerted centralized control over its tokens. In August 2025, World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to include a 'blacklisting' function, allowing the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors or putting it to a governance vote. The complaint argues that this modification enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, serving the dual purpose of pressuring him to mint $200 million of the USD1 stablecoin on the Tron blockchain and artificially propping up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by World Liberty's founders and treasury.
The lawsuit raises regulatory concerns, suggesting that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under U.S. rules, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. Additionally, the complaint alleges that World Liberty made overt threats to 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 threat to report him to U.S. authorities.
Portions of the lawsuit have been redacted, with Sun's team giving World Liberty the opportunity to decide whether these provisions should remain sealed. In a public statement, Sun expressed his desire to be treated equally to other early investors and voiced his opposition to World Liberty's new governance proposal. This development comes after Sun settled charges with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission last month, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine.