Tron's founder, Justin Sun, has initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that his $WLFI token holdings were unfairly frozen and that he was subjected to fraudulent misrepresentations and threats. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an illegal scheme to seize Sun's tokens, which he had 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. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, World Liberty's principals allegedly became hostile towards him.
The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made fraudulent statements about the rights of token holders and the governance of the $WLFI tokens. 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 without disclosing this to investors. The lawsuit argues that this modification was used to pressure Sun into minting $200 million of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin and to manipulate the market price of $WLFI tokens. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that World Liberty's actions may qualify it as a money transmitter, subjecting it to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty's co-founder, Chase Herro, against Sun and his businesses.
Sun has stated that he tried to resolve the situation amicably but seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.