The rapidly worsening relationship between former allies — the Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial project and Justin Sun — deteriorated further today.
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) responded to Sun’s recent legal action by filing a defamation suit in Florida, alleging that Sun spread false statements to his millions of followers. WLFI is seeking damages and a public retraction.
The dispute began weeks ago when WLFI proposed converting more than 62 billion tokens from an indefinite lock to a fixed vesting schedule. Under the proposal, token holders who rejected the change could have their tokens remain locked indefinitely, though those tokens would still be usable for governance purposes.
Sun described the proposal as “one of the most absurd governance scams” he had seen, arguing it punishes dissent and turns participation into coercion rather than genuine, open governance.
Shortly afterward, he filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court in California against the Trump family–linked crypto project, asserting his rights as a significant WLFI token holder.
WLFI’s counterclaim asserts that Sun has “launched a coordinated media smear campaign against World Liberty Financial and refused to stop even when confronted with the truth.”
In an X post, WLFI further alleged that The New York Times and other major outlets — which previously reported on SEC allegations of fraud involving Sun — have effectively joined what WLFI calls his smear campaign against the Trump and Witkoff families.
Justin Sun quickly dismissed WLFI’s defamation complaint, calling it “nothing more than a meritless PR stunt.” He said he stands by his actions and intends to defeat the suit in court.
The alleged defamation lawsuit that World Liberty announced on X today is nothing more than a meritless PR stunt. I stand by my actions and look forward to defeating the case in court.
— H.E. Justin Sun 👨🚀 🌞 (@justinsuntron) May 4, 2026