Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that the company froze his $WLFI token holdings without justification and made false promises. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asserts that World Liberty's actions constitute an 'illegal scheme to seize property' and that the company's leadership engaged in fraudulent behavior.
According to the filing, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens in 2024 after being solicited by the World Liberty team, partly due to the project's claimed support for decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun refused to invest further or mint World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, the company's principals allegedly became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made false statements about the rights of token holders and the governance of the project, and that the company exerted centralized control over its tokens despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business. The complaint also alleges that World Liberty changed the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, which allowed the company to freeze tokens without warning, and that this modification was not disclosed to investors. Furthermore, the lawsuit asserts that World Liberty's actions were intended to pressure Sun into minting $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens.
The complaint raises concerns about World Liberty's regulatory status, suggesting that the company's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under U.S. law, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that World Liberty made threats against Sun and his businesses, including a threat to burn his $WLFI tokens and to report him to U.S. authorities. Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation amicably but was forced to take legal action, and that he opposes a new governance proposal published by World Liberty on April 15.