Prominent cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has filed a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial, a digital currency venture co-founded by United States President Donald Trump and his sons. The lawsuit alleges that the company illegally froze his holdings of WLFI tokens and even threatened to "burn" – or permanently delete – them while they were in his digital wallet. The legal action was filed in a federal court in California this week.
According to the lawsuit, Sun purchased $45 million worth of WLFI tokens (approximately 3 billion tokens) in 2024 and was later awarded an additional 1 billion tokens after being named an advisor to the company. His current portfolio of 4 billion tokens is valued at roughly $320 million based on recent prices. The suit claims World Liberty secretly installed tools to prevent the sale of his tokens after they became tradable in September 2025.
World Liberty Financial declined to comment on the lawsuit, with a spokesperson previously stating that Sun "is not an advisor at World Liberty Financial, and he has never held an operational role in the company." The company is reportedly the most prominent of several lucrative crypto businesses linked to the Trump family, which has allegedly made over $1 billion from it. The company's bylaws supposedly direct 75% of revenue from WLFI token sales to the Trumps.
The lawsuit details a dramatic breakdown in relations between Sun and the company. In September, Sun claimed his tokens were frozen, and earlier this month he alleged on social media platform X that World Liberty had embedded a "backdoor blacklisting function" in the token contracts, granting it "unilateral power" to freeze assets without cause. The company responded on X, stating: "We have the contracts. We have the evidence. We have the truth. See you in court pal."
Sun, who describes himself as "an ardent supporter of President Trump and the Trump family," also claimed that company representatives pressured him to invest an additional $200 million between April and July 2025. Last week, World Liberty proposed a measure that would restrict early investors holding 17 billion tokens from trading them fully until 2030. Sun said he "strongly opposes" this but cannot vote due to his frozen tokens. The case adds to scrutiny of the Trump administration's crypto-friendly policies since January 2025.
Source: www.aljazeera.com