Justin Sun sues World Liberty Financial over token lockup

Update: April 22, 6:40 am UTC: This article has been updated to include more information on Justin Sun and World Liberty Financial.

Tron founder Justin Sun said he has filed a lawsuit against Trump-family-backed World Liberty Financial for allegedly freezing his tokens and threatening to burn them “without any proper justification.”

In a post to social media on Wednesday, Sun said the suit, filed in a California federal court, was meant to protect his rights as a token holder.

“I have tried in good faith to resolve this situation with the World Liberty project team without resorting to litigation. But the project team has refused my requests to unfreeze my tokens and restore my rights as a token holder. They have left me with no choice but to turn to the courts,” he added.

Source: Justin Sun

Sun previously threatened legal action earlier this month over lengthy lockup periods for WLFI’s governance token and accused WLFI’s recent governance proposal of lacking transparency because 76% of the voting tokens came from 10 wallets.

Related: World Liberty burns 47M tokens in bid to pump price as slide continues

At the time, the WLFI project team said on X that the claims were “baseless allegations” and added, “We have the contracts. We have the evidence. We have the truth. See you in court pal.”

Cointelegraph has contacted Tron and World Liberty Financial for comment.

Sun blasts governance proposal

At the same time, Sun took aim at an April 15 WLFI governance proposal that would lock founders, team members, and advisors' tokens for two years and then gradually release them over the next three years, with a 10% token burn when it passes. 

Holders who don’t accept the new schedule remain locked indefinitely under existing terms, according to WLFI.

Sun argued that if the proposal passes, it will be bad for the community because “token holders who do not affirmatively accept its terms — including a requirement that 10% of all advisor tokens be permanently burned — will have their tokens locked indefinitely.” 

“This proposal is bad for the community, but because World Liberty has frozen my early investor tokens, I cannot vote them for or against the proposal,” he added. 

Still a Trump Administration supporter, despite lawsuit  

Sun said on X that the lawsuit doesn't change his views on US President Donald Trump or his administration. 

“Unfortunately, certain individuals on the World Liberty project team have been operating the project in a manner that goes against President Trump’s values,” Sun said.

He is also believed to be one of the largest holders of the TRUMP memecoin, which earned him an invitation to the crypto gala dinner in May 2025 and a watch presented at a ceremony.  

Crypto data analytics platform CoinCarp lists 642,882 TRUMP holders, with over 91% of the supply concentrated among the top 10 wallets and over 97% among the top 100 wallets. 

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