Justin Sun, the creator of Tron, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the family of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges that World Liberty unfairly froze Sun's $WLFI token holdings, made fraudulent representations, and threatened and defamed him. According to the lawsuit, World Liberty's leadership engaged in an 'illegal scheme to seize property' in the form of Sun's tokens, which he claims to have purchased after being solicited 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.
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment on the lawsuit. The filing alleges that World Liberty asked Sun to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint the company's USD1 stablecoin. However, when Sun refused to invest on their terms, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty made fraudulent misrepresentations about the economic rights and liberties associated with purchasing $WLFI tokens, including statements about token holder rights and the 'freedom to transact.' Sun's suit also alleges that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business, has centralized control over its tokens.
The company allegedly 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. The complaint argues that this modification was not put to a governance vote and was not disclosed to token holders, even as they had just approved a proposal to make a portion of the supply tradable.
The lawsuit claims that World Liberty's freezing of Sun's tokens served a dual purpose: pressuring him to mint $200 million of the company's USD1 stablecoin on his Tron blockchain and manipulating $WLFI's market price by preventing one of the largest holders from selling. By locking up Sun's position, the complaint argues, World Liberty 'artificially propped up the market price of $WLFI tokens held by World Liberty founders and the company's corporate treasury.' The lawsuit also raises regulatory questions, suggesting that World Liberty's ability to issue, freeze, and reassign tokens may qualify it as a money transmitter under U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rules, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. 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 if he did not request that they be burned and falsely claimed that Sun's know-your-customer documentation was inadequate, threatening to report him to U.S. authorities.
Portions of the lawsuit were redacted, with Sun's team giving World Liberty the opportunity to decide whether these provisions should remain sealed. In a post, Sun stated that he had 'tried in good faith to resolve this situation' and wanted to be treated the same as other early investors who received tokens.
He also expressed opposition to World Liberty's new governance proposal published on April 15. Since Trump took office, Sun has visited the U.S.
after previously avoiding the country and was a guest at Trump's first memecoin dinner last year. Sun recently settled charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine to resolve a case brought by the previous presidential administration.