World Liberty Financial filed a defamation lawsuit against Tron founder Justin Sun in Florida. The lawsuit, filed Monday, accuses Sun of making false public statements and violating WLFI token-sale terms. It demands a retraction and compensation. Sun denied the allegations, calling the suit a “meritless PR stunt.” The legal battle escalated after Sun sued the platform over his frozen WLFI tokens, intensifying scrutiny of the project’s token controls.
World Liberty Financial filed a defamation lawsuit against Tron founder Justin Sun in Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court. The lawsuit accuses Sun of making false public statements about the platform and violating WLFI token-sale terms through alleged prohibited transfers, short-selling, and straw purchases. It demands a court-ordered retraction and compensation from the founder.
Sun denied the allegations in a Monday post, calling the lawsuit a “meritless PR stunt” and saying he looked forward to defeating it in court. The legal action follows Sun’s own lawsuit against World Liberty over the freezing of his WLFI tokens, a dispute that has intensified scrutiny of the project’s token controls and governance structure.
The lawsuit claims Sun was “fully aware of World Liberty’s right to freeze user tokens to protect its token holders and its community” and agreed to it in the project’s Terms of Sale. Tom Clare, attorney for World Liberty Financial, claimed Sun chose to “defame World Liberty — repeatedly, publicly, and to millions of followers.” The lawsuit adds the filing was a “last resort” to protect tokenholders and employees.
The platform faced prior governance concerns after a March vote showed 76% of voting power came from 10 wallets. Sun called that an alarming sign of concentrated influence and labeled a later proposal for a two-year lock-up “one of the most absurd governance scams I have ever seen.” World Liberty accused Sun of spreading baseless allegations to cover up his own misconduct.
US President Donald Trump and his sons are listed as co-founders of the platform, according to World Liberty’s white paper. The WLFI token rose 5% in 24 hours but is down over 80% since launch, according to CoinMarketCap data. Sun’s tokens were frozen after a roughly $9 million transfer was flagged by blockchain data platforms.
