Tron's founder, Justin Sun, has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging the company froze his $WLFI token holdings and engaged in deceptive practices. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asserts that World Liberty's leadership participated in an 'illegal scheme to seize property' by locking up Sun's tokens, which he claims to have purchased after being approached by the company in 2024.
According to the suit, Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens due to the project's potential to promote decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's attitude towards him allegedly turned hostile. The company is accused of making fraudulent statements about the rights and freedoms associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including claims about governance rights and the ability to transact freely. The lawsuit also alleges that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, exercises centralized control over its tokens.
In August 2025, the company modified the smart contract governing $WLFI to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without informing investors or putting the change to a governance vote. The complaint claims that this modification enabled World Liberty to freeze Sun's tokens, which served to pressure him into minting $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin and artificially inflate the market price of $WLFI tokens held by the company'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, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements.
Additionally, the complaint 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 and report him to U.S. authorities over allegedly inadequate know-your-customer documentation.
Sun has stated that he attempted to resolve the situation amicably and seeks equal treatment as other early investors who received tokens.