Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has filed a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that the company froze his $WLFI tokens and made false representations. The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, claims that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an 'illegal scheme to seize property' by locking up Sun's tokens, which he had purchased after being solicited by the company in 2024. According to the lawsuit, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens due to the project's claims about promoting decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family.
However, when Sun refused to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's principals became hostile towards him. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder rights and the freedom to transact. The company is also accused of having centralized control over its tokens, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty changed 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.
This modification was allegedly used to freeze Sun's tokens, which served the dual purpose of pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. The lawsuit also alleges that World Liberty made threats against Sun and his businesses, including a threat to burn his $WLFI tokens and report him to U.S.
authorities. The case raises regulatory questions, as World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under U.S. rules, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements.
Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation in good faith and wants to be treated the same as other early investors who received tokens.