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 U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, claims that World Liberty Financial unfairly froze Sun's $WLFI token holdings, made false representations, and threatened and defamed 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 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 the USD1 stablecoin, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty induced Sun to invest through fraudulent misrepresentations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens. These misrepresentations include statements about token holder rights, governance, and the freedom to transact.
Sun's suit also claims that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, has centralized control over its tokens. The company allegedly modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this to investors. The complaint argues that this modification was used to pressure Sun into minting $200 million of the USD1 stablecoin on the Tron blockchain and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may raise regulatory questions, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter under U.S.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules. Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty co-founder Chase Herro to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and to report him to U.S.
authorities over allegedly inadequate know-your-customer documentation. 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.
This development comes after Sun settled charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine.