Tron's Justin Sun sues Trump-linked World Liberty Financial over frozen assets

Policy Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Tron's Justin Sun sues Trump-linked World Liberty Financial over frozen assets World Liberty unfairly froze Sun's $WLFI tokens and threatened him, the lawsuit alleged. By Nikhilesh De , Sam Reynolds Apr 22, 2026, 5:20 a.m. Make preferred on Justin Sun (left) and World Liberty Financial's Zak Folkman speak at Consensus Hong Kong on Feb. 19. (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk) What to know : Justin Sun, creator of the Tron blockchain, has sued World Liberty Financial, a Trump family–backed crypto and stablecoin project, alleging it unlawfully locked up his $WLFI tokens and defrauded him about their rights and value. The lawsuit claims Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI in 2024 based partly on the Trump family’s association with the project, and that World Liberty later became hostile when he refused to keep investing or mint its USD1 stablecoin on their terms. Sun further alleges World Liberty centralized control over tokens, threatened to burn his holdings and report him to U.S. authorities over purported KYC issues, while some details of the dispute remain under seal due to confidentiality provisions. Tron creator Justin Sun sued World Liberty Financial, the stablecoin and crypto firm backed by members of U.S. President Donald Trump's family, on Tuesday, alleging that the project had unfairly locked up his $WLFI tokens, made fraudulent misrepresentations, and threatened and defamed Sun. The lawsuit filed Tuesday , which includes a line about Sun's support for Trump himself, alleged that World Liberty's leadership had engaged "in an illegal scheme to seize property" in the form of Sun's tokens, which Sun alleged he had purchased after being solicited by the World Liberty team in 2024. "At that pivotal time for World Liberty, Mr. Sun invested $45 million to purchase $WLFI tokens from World Liberty not only because of the project’s claims that it would promote adoption of decentralized finance — an issue Mr. Sun cares deeply about and to which he has devoted much of his life’s work — but also because of theTrump family’s association with the project," the suit said. World Liberty asked Sun to continue investing through 2025, including through a request to mint World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, the filing said. "By July 2025, when it became clear that Mr. Sun would not invest or mint USD1 on their terms, World Liberty principals became hostile toward Mr. Sun." "World Liberty induced Plaintiffs to make their investments in World Liberty through fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions about the economic rights and liberties that would come with purchasing $WLFI tokens," the filing said. These allegedly fraudulent misrepresentations include statements about the rights token holders had, various public statements World Liberty or its executives made about the governance rights of token holders, and statements about "freedom to transact." Sun's suit also alleged that World Liberty, despite presenting itself as a business operating in the decentralized finance sector, had centralized control over its tokens. According to the complaint, World Liberty changed the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a “blacklisting” function that allowed the company to freeze tokens in specific wallets. The modification was not put to a governance vote or disclosed to investors, Sun alleges, even as token holders had just approved a proposal to make a portion of the supply tradable Other allegations in the complaint include that "World Liberty made two overt threats" to Sun and his businesses. Chase Herro, one of World Liberty's co-founders, allegedly threatened to burn Sun's $WLFI tokens if Sun did not ask for his tokens to be burned. "Second, Mr. Herro also falsely claimed that the know-your-customer ('KYC') documentation submitted by Mr. Sun and the Sun Companies in connection with their $WLFI token purchases was inadequate," the filing said. Herro threatened to report Sun to U.S. authorities, the suit alleged. Chunks of the lawsuit were redacted. Another filing attached to the lawsuit cited a confidentiality provision, saying Sun's team was giving the World Liberty team an opportunity to decide whether or not these redacted provisions should remain sealed. In a post on X , Sun said he had "tried in good faith to resolve this situation." "All I want is to be treated the same as every other early investor who received tokens — no better, no worse," he said. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial said they had no comment on the lawsuit. "I also want the community to know that I strongly oppose the new governance proposal World Liberty published on April 15," Sun said in his post. Since Trump took office, Sun has visited the U.S. after previously staying away from the country. He was a guest at Trump's first memecoin dinner (tied to a different Trump-linked crypto project) last year. Sun settled charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month, agreeing to pay a $10 million fine to resolve a case brought by the previous presidential administration. More For You New York sues Coinbase, Gemini over prediction market offerings By Nikhilesh De | Edited by Jesse Hamilton 8 hours ago New York has become the latest state to argue that prediction market contracts touching on sports and entertainment violate state gambling laws. 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