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 unfairly froze Sun's $WLFI tokens and made fraudulent representations, while also threatening and defaming him.
According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being solicited by World Liberty's team in 2024, partly due to the project's 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 alleges that World Liberty made false statements about the rights of token holders and the governance of the $WLFI tokens, and that the company had centralized control over its tokens despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance project. World Liberty is also accused of modifying the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, which allowed the company to freeze tokens without disclosing this to investors.
The complaint argues that this modification was used to freeze Sun's tokens, pressuring him to mint $200 million of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. The lawsuit further claims that World Liberty's actions may have regulatory implications, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter under US law. 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 amicably but was forced to take legal action to protect his rights as an investor.