Justin Sun seeks $264,000 sanctions from World Liberty

Tron founder Justin Sun is seeking $263,821.20 in sanctions against World Liberty Financial and its lawyers, alleging that the Trump family-linked crypto company submitted a misleading ownership disclosure in a federal lawsuit over his $45 million investment in WLFI tokens.

In a court filing, Sun and two co-plaintiffs alleged that World Liberty initially listed Florida as its sole citizenship. Nearly three months later, the company amended the disclosure to identify 22 individuals and entities in its ownership chain, including parties connected to the United Arab Emirates.

“World Liberty presumably always knew who its owners were,” Sun wrote in the filing. “When we asked how this happened, World Liberty refused to tell us.”

The amended disclosure was filed six days after a federal judge questioned World Liberty’s request to send Sun’s claims to arbitration. World Liberty’s lawyers later argued that the company’s UAE citizenship affected the court’s jurisdiction because foreign parties were involved on both sides of the lawsuit.

In an Aug. 26 email included in court exhibits, World Liberty lawyer Sam Cleveland wrote that his team had “recently” learned additional citizenship information. He also maintained that World Liberty already had UAE citizenship when Sun filed his lawsuit in April.

Sun’s lawyers then sought company records and testimony about World Liberty’s ownership and when its legal team learned of the UAE connection. They allege that World Liberty provided limited documents and declined to explain why the original disclosure did not include the UAE information.

The sanctions request covers fees for four attorneys who opposed World Liberty’s arbitration request, according to a sworn declaration from attorney Edward Moss. The $263,821.20 claim excludes fees and costs related to the jurisdictional investigation and the sanctions motion.

Sun sued World Liberty in April, alleging fraud and the unlawful freezing of his tokens. World Liberty filed a defamation lawsuit against Sun in May, alleging that he made false statements and violated the terms of the token sale. Sun has denied those allegations.

The legal dispute followed a January 2025 agreement under which an Abu Dhabi-backed investment vehicle agreed to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million. World Liberty did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions request.

Sun has invested in other Trump-linked crypto projects. He bought President Donald Trump’s TRUMP memecoin and ranked first on the token’s leaderboard for a May 2025 dinner with Trump, with holdings valued at about $18.5 million.

Sun plans to refile his claims in California state court after the sanctions matter is resolved. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Dec. 10.

Reviewed and fact-checked by Alex Panasenko on November 4.