Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the family of former US President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, claims that World Liberty unfairly froze Sun's $WLFI token holdings, made false representations, and threatened and defamed him. According to the lawsuit, Sun had invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens after being approached by the World Liberty team in 2024, largely due to the project's claims of promoting decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, the company's principals allegedly became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder rights and the freedom to transact. It also claims that the company centralized control over its tokens, contrary to its decentralized finance claims.
In August 2025, World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this to investors or putting it to a governance vote. The complaint argues that this modification was used to freeze Sun's tokens, pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and artificially propping up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by World Liberty founders and its corporate treasury. The lawsuit raises regulatory questions, suggesting that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. Additionally, the complaint alleges that World Liberty made overt threats to Sun and his businesses, including a threat to burn his $WLFI tokens and a claim that his know-your-customer documentation was inadequate, with a warning to report him to US authorities.
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial stated that the company had no comment on the lawsuit. Sun has expressed his desire to be treated equally to other early investors and has opposed a new governance proposal published by World Liberty on April 15.