Tron founder Justin Sun has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm backed by the Trump family, alleging that the company froze his $WLFI token holdings without justification, made false claims, and threatened him. The lawsuit, which mentions Sun's support for former US President Donald Trump, accuses World Liberty's leadership of engaging in an illegal scheme to seize Sun's tokens, which he purchased after being approached by the company in 2024. According to the lawsuit, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens due to the project's claims of promoting decentralized finance, an issue he is deeply passionate about, as well as the Trump family's involvement with the project.
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment on the lawsuit. The filing states that World Liberty asked Sun to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin.
However, when it became clear that Sun would not invest on their terms, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty induced Sun to invest through fraudulent misrepresentations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens. These alleged misrepresentations include statements about token holder rights, public statements by World Liberty or its executives about governance rights, and statements about the freedom to transact.
Sun's lawsuit also alleges that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, has centralized control over its tokens. According to the complaint, World Liberty 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. The lawsuit claims that this modification was not put to a governance vote and was hidden in the code, enabling World Liberty to wield this function at will. The complaint alleges that freezing Sun's tokens served two purposes: pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin on his Tron blockchain and manipulating the market price of $WLFI by preventing one of the largest holders from selling.
By locking up Sun's position, the lawsuit argues that World Liberty artificially propped up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by the company's founders and treasury. This ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may not only undermine World Liberty's decentralization claims but also raise regulatory questions, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter under US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules. Other allegations in the complaint include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens if he did not request that they be burned, as well as a claim that Herro falsely stated that Sun's know-your-customer documentation was inadequate, threatening to report him to US authorities. Portions of the lawsuit were redacted, with an attached filing citing a confidentiality provision and giving World Liberty the opportunity to decide whether these provisions should remain sealed.
In a social media post, Sun stated that he had tried to resolve the situation in good faith and wants to be treated the same as other early investors who received tokens. Sun also expressed his opposition to World Liberty's new governance proposal published on April 15. Since Trump took office, Sun has visited the US after previously avoiding the country, including attending a memecoin dinner linked to a different Trump-associated crypto project. Last month, Sun settled charges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine to resolve a case brought by the previous presidential administration.