Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the family of former US President Donald Trump. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty Financial engaged in an unlawful scheme to seize Sun's $WLFI tokens, which he claims to have 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 purported commitment to decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin, World Liberty's leadership 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 governance rights and the freedom to transact. The suit also alleges that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, exerted centralized control over its tokens.
In August 2025, World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to introduce a 'blacklisting' function, allowing the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors. The complaint argues that this modification enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, thereby pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin on the Tron blockchain and artificially inflating the market price of $WLFI tokens held by World Liberty's founders and treasury.
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 US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. Additional allegations include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and report him to US authorities for allegedly inadequate know-your-customer documentation. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment on the lawsuit. Sun stated on social media that he had attempted to resolve the situation amicably and seeks equal treatment as other early investors who received tokens.
He also expressed opposition to World Liberty's new governance proposal published on April 15.