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 Financial unfairly froze Sun's $WLFI tokens, made false representations, and threatened him.
According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being approached by the World Liberty team in 2024, partly due to the project's connection to the Trump family. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the USD1 stablecoin, World Liberty's attitude towards him became hostile.
The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty's actions, including the freezing of Sun's tokens, were part of an 'illegal scheme to seize property' and that the company had engaged in fraudulent misrepresentations about the rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial stated that they had no comment on the lawsuit.
The filing also claims that World Liberty changed the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025, adding a 'blacklisting' function that allowed the company to freeze tokens without disclosing this to investors. This modification was allegedly used to freeze Sun's tokens, which served the dual purpose of pressuring him to mint $200 million of the USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. The lawsuit further argues that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may raise regulatory questions, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter under US rules.
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 in good faith and seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.