Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has filed a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that the company froze his $WLFI token holdings and made false representations. The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, claims that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an 'illegal scheme to seize property' in the form of Sun's tokens, which he had purchased after being solicited by the company in 2024.
Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens, allegedly due to the project's claims of promoting decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun refused to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's principals 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. Sun's suit also claims that World Liberty has centralized control over its tokens, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business.
The company allegedly changed the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosure or a governance vote. The complaint argues that this modification enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, which served to pressure him into minting $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens.
The lawsuit further alleges that World Liberty's actions may have regulatory implications, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter under U.S. rules. Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and report him to U.S. authorities.
Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.