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 against him. The lawsuit, which was filed recently, claims that Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being approached by World Liberty's team in 2024, partly due to the project's association with the Trump family. According to the lawsuit, World Liberty's leadership engaged in an 'illegal scheme to seize property' by freezing Sun's tokens, which he claims he purchased based on the project's promises to promote decentralized finance.
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment on the lawsuit. The filing alleges that World Liberty asked Sun to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin. However, when it became clear that Sun would not invest on their terms, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit claims 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. Sun's suit also alleges that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, had centralized control over its tokens. 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 to investors.
The lawsuit claims that World Liberty's freezing of Sun's tokens served to pressure him into minting $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin on his Tron blockchain and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens. By locking up Sun's position, the complaint argues, World Liberty artificially supported the market price of $WLFI tokens held by the company's founders and treasury. The filing also alleges that World Liberty made threats against Sun and his businesses, including a claim that the company's co-founder, Chase Herro, threatened to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens if he did not request that they be burned.
Herro also allegedly claimed that the know-your-customer documentation submitted by Sun was inadequate and threatened to report him to U.S. authorities. 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.