World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons, has filed a defamation lawsuit in Florida state court against Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. The company accuses Sun of launching a coordinated public smear campaign and a media campaign intended to damage the project's reputation.
The lawsuit alleges that Sun engaged in prohibited token transfers, straw purchases, and short selling to intentionally drive down the market price of WLFI tokens as public trading began in September. Additionally, World Liberty Financial claims that Sun improperly transferred some of his tokens, which carry voting and governance rights, to the crypto exchange Binance.
This legal escalation follows a lawsuit filed by Sun in April, in which he alleged that World Liberty Financial illegally and wrongfully froze the tokens he had purchased. Sun, who invested $75 million into the Trump-linked cryptocurrency project, claimed the company's actions regarding his holdings were unlawful.