World Liberty Financial has taken legal action against Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, for alleged defamation in Florida. The company accuses Sun of spreading inaccurate claims to millions of his followers and seeks monetary damages alongside a public retraction of his statements.
On May 4, the Trump-backed DeFi project outlined in its statement how Sun allegedly engaged in unauthorized transfers, straw purchases, and short-selling involving its $WLFI tokens. The company claims that Sun was fully aware of its rights to freeze these assets yet proceeded with his actions nonetheless.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade County, encompasses allegations of defamation and related claims. World Liberty Financial is pursuing compensation as well as other damages, alongside a request for Sun to retract his comments.
Interestingly, this conflict began after Sun himself initiated a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial in California federal court. In his legal argument, he contended that the project unfairly froze his WLFI holdings and stripped him of his governance rights.
The dispute has its roots in events from late last year when Sun's wallet was blacklisted, leading to approximately 540 million tokens being frozen after $9 million in transfers to exchanges were flagged. While World Liberty described these activities as suspicious, Sun characterized them as standard testing procedures. This ongoing disagreement has also attracted renewed scrutiny regarding the project’s governance structure.
Sun has raised concerns that a hidden blacklist feature permits the project to freeze assets without prior notice, which he claims contradicts the principles it publicly advocates. The tension between these two parties continues as the legal battle unfolds, highlighting the complexities of governance and rights within the cryptocurrency space.