Tron founder Justin Sun has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging the company froze his $WLFI token holdings and made false representations. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, states that World Liberty's actions were part of an 'illegal scheme to seize property' and that the company's leadership made threats against Sun. According to the suit, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens in 2024 after being solicited by the World Liberty team, drawn in by the project's claims of promoting decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder governance and the freedom to transact. It is also alleged that World Liberty changed the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing the company to freeze tokens without disclosing this to investors. The complaint argues that this modification was used to freeze Sun's tokens, both to pressure him into minting $200 million of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin and to artificially prop up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by the company's founders. The lawsuit raises questions about World Liberty's decentralization claims and its potential status as a money transmitter under U.S.
regulations. 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.
He also expressed opposition to World Liberty's new governance proposal published on April 15.