Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency and stablecoin company backed by associates of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asserts that World Liberty Financial engaged in an unlawful scheme to seize Sun's $WLFI tokens, which he claims to have 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, a cause he deeply cares about, as well as the Trump family's involvement with the project. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial stated that the company has no comment on the lawsuit. According to the filing, World Liberty Financial requested that Sun continue investing in 2025, including a proposal to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin.
However, when it became apparent that Sun would not invest or mint USD1 on their terms, the principals of World Liberty Financial became hostile towards him. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty Financial made fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holders' rights, governance rights, and the freedom to transact. Sun's suit also claims that World Liberty Financial, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, has centralized control over its tokens.
The complaint states that World Liberty Financial modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors or putting it to a governance vote. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty Financial's freezing of Sun's tokens served a dual purpose: pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin on his Tron blockchain and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens by preventing one of the largest holders from selling. By locking up Sun's position, the complaint argues, World Liberty Financial artificially propped up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by the company's founders and corporate treasury. The filing also raises regulatory questions, suggesting that World Liberty Financial's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify the firm as a money transmitter under U.S.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. Other allegations in the complaint include that World Liberty Financial made overt threats to Sun and his businesses, with one of the company's co-founders, Chase Herro, allegedly threatening to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens if Sun did not request that his tokens be burned. Herro also falsely claimed that the know-your-customer documentation submitted by Sun and his companies was inadequate, threatening to report Sun to U.S.
authorities. Portions of the lawsuit were redacted, with another filing attached to the lawsuit citing a confidentiality provision and giving the World Liberty Financial team an opportunity to decide whether the redacted provisions should remain sealed. In a post, Sun stated that he had tried to resolve the situation in good faith and wanted to be treated the same as every other early investor who received tokens.
He also expressed opposition to the new governance proposal published by World Liberty Financial on April 15. Since Trump took office, Sun has visited the U.S. after previously staying away from the country, including attending a memecoin dinner tied to a different Trump-linked crypto project.
Sun recently settled charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine to resolve a case brought by the previous presidential administration.