Tron's founder, Justin Sun, has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that the company improperly froze his $WLFI token holdings and made false representations. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, claims that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an 'illegal scheme to seize property' by locking up Sun's tokens, which he had purchased after being approached by the company in 2024. Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens, partly due to the project's claimed focus on decentralized finance and its connection to the Trump family. However, when Sun declined 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 alleges that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder governance and 'freedom to transact.' It is also claimed that the company centralized control over its tokens, contrary to its decentralized finance image. In August 2025, World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing 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 USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. The lawsuit argues that World Liberty's actions may have regulatory implications, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter subject to registration and anti-money laundering requirements.
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 equal treatment as other early investors. He also expressed opposition to World Liberty's new governance proposal published on April 15.