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 alleges that World Liberty Financial engaged in fraudulent activities, including misrepresenting the rights associated with $WLFI tokens and threatening Sun after he declined to invest further in the project.
According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens in 2024, partly due to the project's claims of promoting decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun refused to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, the company's principals allegedly became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit claims that World Liberty Financial made false statements about the governance rights of token holders and the freedom to transact, and that the company had centralized control over its tokens despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business. The complaint also alleges that World Liberty Financial modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, which allowed the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors. This modification was allegedly used to freeze Sun's tokens, pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. The lawsuit further claims that World Liberty Financial's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may subject it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements as a money transmitter under U.S.
regulations. Additionally, the complaint alleges that World Liberty Financial made 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 threat to report him to U.S.
authorities. Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks to be treated the same as other early investors who received tokens.