Tron's founder, Justin Sun, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that the company froze his $WLFI token holdings without justification, made false representations, and engaged in threatening behavior. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty's actions constitute an 'illegal scheme to seize property' and that the company's leadership made fraudulent misrepresentations to induce Sun to invest. According to the lawsuit, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens in 2024, partly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its purported commitment to decentralized finance. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's attitude toward him allegedly became hostile.
The lawsuit also alleges that World Liberty exercised centralized control over its tokens, contrary to its decentralized finance claims, and that it modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to add a 'blacklisting' function without disclosing this change to investors. This modification allowed the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets, including Sun's. The complaint argues that World Liberty's actions were intended to pressure Sun into minting $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that World Liberty'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.
Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, against Sun and his businesses, as well as false claims about the adequacy of know-your-customer documentation submitted by Sun. Sun has stated that he attempted to resolve the situation amicably and seeks equal treatment as an early investor.
He also expressed opposition to a new governance proposal published by World Liberty.