In April and May 2026, a legal conflict escalated between crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a digital currency venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons. The dispute involves two separate lawsuits—one filed by Sun and a countersuit filed by World Liberty.
Sun's Lawsuit (April 2026)
On April 21, 2025, Justin Sun filed a federal lawsuit in California against World Liberty Financial, alleging the following:
- Illegal Account Freezing: Sun claimed the company illegally froze his holdings of approximately 4 billion WLFI tokens, which were worth roughly $320 million at the time.
- Secret Control Tools: The suit alleged that World Liberty secretly installed tools to block the sale of Sun's tokens and even threatened to "burn" (permanently delete) them, even while they were in his private digital wallet.
- Extortion Allegations: Sun alleged the company froze his assets after he refused their repeated demands to invest an additional $200 million into a secondary stablecoin called USD1.
- Governance Stripping: Sun claimed he was stripped of his voting and governance rights without a vote from token holders.
World Liberty Financial's Countersuit (May 2026)
On May 4, 2026, World Liberty Financial filed a defamation lawsuit against Sun in Florida state court. Their primary claims include:
- Public Smear Campaign: The venture accused Sun of launching a coordinated campaign to "torch" its reputation and "tank" the market price of the WLFI token through false statements on social media.
- Token Misconduct: World Liberty alleged that Sun improperly transferred tokens to the Binance exchange and engaged in short-selling (betting against the token's value) to push prices down.
- Contractual Rights: The company maintained that its ability to freeze tokens was clearly disclosed in the original Terms of Sale and was used to protect the ecosystem from Sun's alleged misconduct.
Current Status
Sun has publicly dismissed World Liberty's defamation lawsuit as a "meritless PR stunt" and stated he looks forward to defeating the case in court. As of early May 2026, both cases are ongoing in their respective jurisdictions in California and Florida.