Billionaire crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun has filed a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a digital currency venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons, alleging the company illegally froze his holdings of tokens issued by the firm. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California, claims World Liberty secretly installed tools to prevent Sun from selling his tokens after they became tradeable in September 2025.
Sun, the Hong Kong-based founder of the Tron cryptocurrency and the largest investor in World Liberty, purchased $45m worth of WLFI tokens—approximately 3bn—and was later awarded an additional 1bn tokens after being named as an adviser to the company. According to Reuters calculations based on the latest WLFI price, Sun's portfolio of 4bn tokens is worth roughly $320m.
The lawsuit also alleges that World Liberty threatened to “burn,” or permanently delete, Sun's holdings even while they were in his digital wallet. Sun described himself as “one of World Liberty’s anchor investors” in the filing. World Liberty declined to comment on the lawsuit, and a spokesperson said earlier this week that Sun “is not an advisor at World Liberty Financial, and he has never held an operational role in the company.”
World Liberty is the most prominent of several crypto businesses co-founded or controlled by the Trump family, which has already made over $1bn from the venture, according to a Reuters analysis. The company's bylaws state that 75% of revenue from WLFI token sales is routed to the Trumps. The firm has faced increasing scrutiny from investors over lack of transparency and governance issues.
The lawsuit caps a deterioration in relations between Sun and World Liberty. In September, Sun claimed the company had frozen his tokens, and earlier this month he alleged on social media that World Liberty had embedded a “backdoor blacklisting function” in blockchain contracts, giving it “unilateral power” to freeze or confiscate tokens. World Liberty responded on X with: “We have the contracts. We have the evidence. We have the truth. See you in court pal.”
Sun said he “tried in good faith” to resolve the issue but that World Liberty refused to unfreeze his tokens. A recent company proposal would restrict early investors holding a combined 17bn tokens from trading until 2030. Sun, who has also invested in Trump's meme coin, said he could not vote on the proposal due to the freeze. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
