Tron founder Justin Sun has taken World Liberty Financial to court, accusing the company of unfairly freezing his $WLFI token holdings and making fraudulent claims. The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, alleges that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an illegal scheme to seize Sun's tokens, which he claims to have purchased after being approached by the company in 2024. Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens, reportedly due to the project's association with the Trump family and its claims of promoting decentralized finance.
However, when Sun refused to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made false statements about the rights of token holders and the governance of the $WLFI tokens. It also alleges that 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 disclosing this change to investors. This modification was allegedly used to freeze Sun's tokens, which served to pressure him into minting $200 million of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens.
The complaint argues that World Liberty's actions may have regulatory implications, as the company's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens could qualify it as a money transmitter under US law. Other allegations in the complaint include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, against Sun and his businesses.
Herro allegedly threatened to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens and to report him to US authorities over allegedly inadequate know-your-customer documentation. Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation amicably but was forced to take legal action. He also expressed opposition to a new governance proposal published by World Liberty on April 15.