Cryptocurrency billionaire Justin Sun is suing World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture co-founded by President Donald Trump and his sons, alleging the company illegally blocked him from selling digital tokens worth up to $1 billion.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in California federal court, also accuses World Liberty Financial of trying to pressure Sun into investing "hundreds of millions of dollars to mint USD1, World Liberty's stablecoin." The complaint alleges that the company froze his World Liberty Financial tokens after Sun refused to commit more money to the business.
In a social media post on his rationale for the lawsuit, Sun said he remains a supporter of Mr. Trump and blamed "certain individuals" for the alleged issues.
"They wrongfully froze all of my tokens, stripped me of my right to vote on governance proposals, and have threatened to permanently destroy my tokens by 'burning' them — all without any proper justification," he wrote. "I do not believe President Trump would condone these actions if he knew about them."
World Liberty Financial CEO Zach Witkoff dismissed Sun's allegations as "entirely meritless."
"Justin Sun's recent lawsuit against [World Liberty Financial] is a desperate attempt to deflect attention from Sun's own misconduct," Witkoff wrote on social media on Wednesday. "He engaged in misconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users. World Liberty will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its community."