Crypto billionaire accuses Trump family’s World Liberty of 'criminal extortion'

Crypto tycoon Justin Sun sued the Trump family’s crypto venture, accusing World Liberty Financial of “criminal extortion” for freezing valuable digital tokens over his refusal to invest more money with the company.

- Angus Berwick & Patricia Kowsmann

Justin Sun said he lost out on $276 million when the Trump-backed company blocked him from cashing out an early investment.

(REUTERS)

The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday in a California federal court, said Sun remains “an ardent supporter of President Trump and the Trump family,” but that World Liberty’s managers“see the project asa golden opportunity to leverage the Trump brand to profit through fraud.”

The lawsuit underscored Sun’s dramatic turn from early and vocal supporter of the Trump-backed company to its critic-in-chief.

The Chinese-born billionaire accused World Liberty of blocking him from selling WLFI tokens he began to amass in late 2024, just after Trump’s reelection. Sun initially bought $30 million’s worth of WLFI tokens, making him the first significant investor in the then nascent project.

World Liberty's ChiefExecutive, Zach Witkoff, said the lawsuit was a “desperate attempt to deflect attention from Sun’s own conduct, calling the claims “entirely meritless.”

“He engaged in misconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users,” Witkoff wrote on X.

Earlier this month, after Sun aired criticism on X, World Liberty tweeted, “See you in court pi