Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, 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, alleges that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an illegal scheme to seize Sun's $WLFI tokens, which he claims were purchased after being solicited by the company in 2024. Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens, reportedly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its commitment to 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 accuses World Liberty of making fraudulent misrepresentations 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 alleged 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 add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors.
Sun's suit claims that this modification was used to freeze his 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 World Liberty's founders and corporate treasury. The lawsuit further alleges that World Liberty's actions may have regulatory implications, potentially qualifying the firm as a money transmitter subject to registration and anti-money laundering requirements.
Additionally, the complaint includes allegations of threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, against Sun and his businesses. Sun has stated that he attempted to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.