Tron founder Justin Sun has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that the company froze his $WLFI token holdings without justification, made false representations, and issued threats. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty's actions were part of an 'illegal scheme to seize property' and that the company's leadership engaged in fraudulent behavior to induce Sun to invest $45 million in $WLFI tokens in 2024. According to the filing, World Liberty asked Sun to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin.
However, when Sun declined to invest further, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit also claims that World Liberty made false statements about the rights of token holders and the governance of the $WLFI tokens, and that the company centralized control over its tokens despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, which allowed the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this to investors.
The lawsuit argues that this modification was used to pressure Sun into minting $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens. Additionally, the complaint claims that World Liberty's actions may have regulatory implications, potentially qualifying the company as a money transmitter under U.S. law. Other allegations in the lawsuit 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 amicably but was forced to take legal action to protect his rights as an investor.