Tron's founder, Justin Sun, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with connections to the family of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty unfairly locked up Sun's $WLFI token holdings, engaged in fraudulent activities, and made defamatory statements against him.
According to the lawsuit, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being solicited by World Liberty's team in 2024, partly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its claims of promoting decentralized finance. However, when Sun refused to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's leadership allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit also alleges that World Liberty made false representations about the rights and freedoms associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens and that the company has centralized control over its tokens, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business. Furthermore, the complaint states that World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors.
This modification was allegedly used to freeze Sun's tokens, pressuring him to mint $200 million of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin on the Tron blockchain and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens. The lawsuit raises regulatory concerns, suggesting that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules.
Other allegations 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 and seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.