Billionaire cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against World Liberty Financial, a digital currency venture co-founded by Donald Trump, in a California federal court. Sun alleges the company illegally froze his token holdings and installed secret tools to prevent asset sales after they became tradeable in September 2025.
The legal action centers on Sun’s portfolio of 4 billion WLFI tokens, which Reuters estimates are worth approximately $320 million based on current market prices. Sun, who founded the Tron cryptocurrency, initially purchased 3 billion tokens for $45 million and received an additional 1 billion as an advisor, according to the lawsuit as reported by The Guardian.
Sun claims that World Liberty Financial representatives pressured him to invest more capital into the venture during the first half of 2025. This included requests for a $200 million commitment to a separate stablecoin and an equity stake in the firm.
“burn” – or permanently delete – his holdings, even while they were in Sun’s digital wallet, is what the lawsuit alleges World Liberty threatened to do.
The plaintiff identifies himself as a primary financial supporter of the project. He stated that the firm’s actions effectively confiscated his property rights without legal recourse or a valid cause.
“one of World Liberty’s anchor investors” is how Sun described himself in the lawsuit.
World Liberty Financial has denied Sun’s formal involvement with the company’s internal operations. A spokesperson recently clarified that Sun does not hold an official title despite his massive investment.
“is not an advisor at World Liberty Financial, and he has never held an operational role in the company” said a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial.
Sun took to social media to express his frustration with the ongoing dispute. He claimed that the company refused to restore his access despite his attempts to reach a private resolution.
“backdoor blacklisting function” was what Sun alleged in a post on social media platform X that World Liberty had secretly embedded in the blockchain-based contracts.
The entrepreneur expressed concern that the company now holds absolute power over investor assets. He argues that the centralized governance structure allows for unilateral restrictions on token holders.
“unilateral power” to “freeze, restrict, and effectively confiscate the property rights” of token holders without cause or recourse, wrote Sun on X.
World Liberty Financial responded publicly to the accusations on the same platform. The company indicated it is prepared to defend its actions and the integrity of its smart contracts in a legal setting.
“We have the contracts. We have the evidence. We have the truth. See you in court pal.” stated World Liberty on X.
The lawsuit notes that Sun remains a supporter of the Trump family despite the current litigation. However, he maintains that the company’s recent governance proposals are detrimental to early participants.
“has long been (and remains) an ardent supporter of President Trump and the Trump family” the lawsuit said.
Sun recently commented on his attempts to negotiate a settlement before filing the suit. He stated that the leadership team has been unresponsive to his requests for transparency.
“tried in good faith” to resolve his complaints with World Liberty, said Sun in a post on X on Wednesday.
The billionaire investor further clarified his stance on a new measure that would lock up billions of tokens for several years. He argues that the move unfairly targets early investors who provided the initial liquidity.
“strongly opposes” the new governance proposal but claimed he could not vote on it as World Liberty had frozen his early investor tokens, Sun said.
Leave a comment