Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency and stablecoin firm with ties to the family of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, claims that World Liberty unjustly locked up Sun's $WLFI holdings, engaged in fraudulent activities, and defamed him.
According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being approached by World Liberty's team in 2024, partly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its claims of promoting decentralized finance. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, the company's principals allegedly became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made false representations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder rights and the freedom to transact. It is also claimed that World Liberty exercised centralized control over its tokens, contrary to its decentralized finance claims.
In August 2025, the company modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to introduce a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors or putting it to a governance vote. The lawsuit argues that this modification enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and artificially propping up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by the company's founders and treasury. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may subject it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements as a money transmitter under U.S.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 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 over allegedly inadequate know-your-customer documentation. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Sun stated on social media that he had attempted to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks equal treatment as other early investors, while also expressing opposition to a new governance proposal published by World Liberty.