Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency and stablecoin company backed by the family of former US President Donald Trump. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty Financial engaged in an illegal scheme to seize Sun's $WLFI tokens, which he had purchased after being solicited by the company in 2024. Sun had invested $45 million in the tokens, reportedly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its claims of promoting decentralized finance.
However, when Sun refused to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder rights and the freedom to transact.
It is also claimed that the company changed 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 enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, serving the dual purpose of pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. Furthermore, the lawsuit raises regulatory concerns, suggesting that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules. Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and report him to US authorities.
Sun has stated that he had attempted to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.