Justin Sun, the creator of Tron, has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency and stablecoin firm with ties to the family of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges that World Liberty Financial froze Sun's $WLFI token holdings without justification, made false representations, and engaged in threatening and defamatory behavior towards him.
According to the lawsuit, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being approached by World Liberty's team in 2024, partly due to the project's connection to the Trump family and its purported aim to promote decentralized finance adoption. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, the relationship turned hostile.
The lawsuit claims that World Liberty Financial deceived investors, including Sun, through false statements about the rights and freedoms associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens. It also alleges that despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance project, World Liberty Financial exercised centralized control over its tokens. The company modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosure or a governance vote. This change enabled World Liberty Financial to freeze Sun's tokens, which the lawsuit argues was done to pressure him into minting $200 million of the USD1 stablecoin on the Tron blockchain and to artificially inflate the market price of $WLFI tokens held by World Liberty's founders and treasury.
The lawsuit further claims that World Liberty Financial's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may subject it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements as a money transmitter under U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that World Liberty Financial made threats against Sun and his businesses, including a threat to burn his $WLFI tokens and to report him to U.S. authorities over 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.
He also expressed opposition to a new governance proposal published by World Liberty Financial on April 15.