Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that the company froze his $WLFI tokens and made fraudulent claims. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asserts that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an illicit scheme to seize Sun's tokens, which he purchased after being solicited by the company in 2024. Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens, reportedly due to the project's claims of promoting decentralized finance and its connection to the Trump family.
However, when Sun declined to invest further, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made false representations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder rights and the freedom to transact.
Sun's suit also alleges that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, has centralized control over its tokens. The company modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this to investors.
The complaint argues that this modification was used to pressure Sun into minting $200 million of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens. The lawsuit raises regulatory questions, suggesting that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under U.S.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules. Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, against Sun and his businesses.
Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.