World Liberty sues Justin Sun over $300M Binance transfer

World Liberty Financial filed a defamation lawsuit against TRON founder Justin Sun on May 4 in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County. The complaint alleges Sun moved about $300 million to Binance before WLFI opened for public trading, used social posts to spread false statements about the company and acted to profit from a price decline.

The Miami filing accuses Sun of coordinating a campaign of misinformation, conducting prohibited token transfers, arranging “straw” purchases through third parties and engaging in short selling. World Liberty alleges Sun used his large audience on X to publish statements that hurt the company’s reputation and contributed to WLFI price volatility.

The lawsuit responds to a separate case Sun filed in April in a San Francisco federal court, where he asserted World Liberty illegally froze about $75 million of his WLFI holdings and removed his governance rights. World Liberty’s complaint seeks damages and corrective relief and asks courts to address the alleged reputational harm and market effects it attributes to Sun’s actions.

World Liberty also says the WLFI rollout included a private sale of 5.9 billion additional tokens to accredited investors while many early retail holders face lock-up restrictions that limit trading. The company cites sharp price swings and trading lows in recent sessions and links some of that volatility to the alleged shorting activity and public statements by Sun.

Tom Clare, an attorney for World Liberty, wrote that Sun “chose to defame World Liberty — repeatedly, publicly, and to millions of followers,” and described the suit as a last resort to correct the record and protect token holders, employees and other stakeholders. Sun posted that the Miami complaint is “a baseless PR stunt,” said he has a clear conscience and expressed confidence he will prevail in court.

The Miami case will consider whether Sun’s statements and transfers unlawfully harmed World Liberty’s reputation and token value. The San Francisco federal case centers on Sun’s claim that his WLFI holdings were improperly frozen and his governance rights curtailed. No future court dates were listed in the Miami filing.

Both lawsuits remain pending.