Tron's creator, Justin Sun, has initiated a lawsuit 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. According to the lawsuit filed, Sun had 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 claims of promoting decentralized finance. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the USD1 stablecoin, World Liberty's attitude towards him became hostile. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the rights and freedoms associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about governance rights and the freedom to transact.
It is also claimed that despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, World Liberty maintained centralized control over its tokens. The company allegedly modified the $WLFI smart contract in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing it to freeze tokens in specific wallets without disclosing this change to investors or putting it to a governance vote. This modification enabled World Liberty 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 the company's founders and treasury.
The complaint further alleges that World Liberty'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. regulations. Additionally, the lawsuit includes allegations of threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, against Sun and his businesses, including a threat to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and to report him to U.S.
authorities over allegedly inadequate know-your-customer documentation. Sun has stated that he attempted to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks equal treatment as other early investors who received tokens.
He also expressed opposition to a new governance proposal published by World Liberty on April 15.