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 claims that World Liberty Financial unjustly froze Sun's $WLFI tokens, made false representations, and threatened him.
According to the lawsuit, Sun had purchased the tokens after being approached by World Liberty's team in 2024, investing $45 million. The investment was made partly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its claims of promoting decentralized finance.
World Liberty Financial requested that Sun continue investing in 2025, including a proposal to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin. However, when Sun declined to invest on their terms by July 2025, the company's principals became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty Financial made fraudulent misrepresentations about the economic rights and freedoms associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens. These misrepresentations included statements about token holders' rights, public statements by the company or its executives, and claims about the freedom to transact. The lawsuit also claims that despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, World Liberty Financial has centralized control over its tokens.
In August 2025, the company modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors or putting it to a governance vote. The complaint alleges that this modification was used 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 manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. By locking up Sun's position, World Liberty Financial artificially supported the market price of $WLFI tokens held by the company's founders and its corporate treasury.
The lawsuit raises regulatory concerns, suggesting that World Liberty Financial's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules. Other allegations in the complaint include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and to report him to US authorities for allegedly inadequate know-your-customer documentation. 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 post, Sun stated that he had attempted to resolve the situation in good faith and sought to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.
He also expressed opposition to World Liberty's new governance proposal published on April 15.