Justin Sun, the creator of the Tron blockchain, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the family of former US President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges that World Liberty Financial unfairly locked up Sun's $WLFI token holdings, engaged in fraudulent activities, and made threats against him. According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being solicited by the World Liberty team in 2024, partly due to the project's claims of promoting decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun declined 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 claims 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. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, exerted centralized control over its tokens. 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 or putting it to a governance vote. The complaint argues that this modification enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, serving a dual purpose: pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin on the Tron blockchain and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens by preventing one of the largest holders from selling.
By doing so, World Liberty artificially propped up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by its founders and corporate treasury, the lawsuit claims. The complaint also 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, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made overt threats to Sun and his businesses, including a threat to burn his $WLFI tokens and a false claim that the know-your-customer documentation submitted by Sun was inadequate, with a threat to report him to US authorities. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial stated that the company had no comment on the lawsuit.
In a post, Sun expressed his desire to be treated equally to other early investors and opposed a new governance proposal published by World Liberty. The lawsuit comes after Sun settled charges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last month, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine to resolve a case brought by the previous presidential administration.