World Liberty Sues Crypto Entrepreneur

World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons, filed a defamation lawsuit in a Florida state court on Monday, August 13, 2025, against Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. The suit alleges Sun engaged in a public smear campaign to damage the company's reputation and depress its token's market value.

The lawsuit claims Sun improperly transferred World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens with voting rights to Binance and simultaneously placed short-selling bets against WLFI. This alleged coordinated effort aimed to reduce the token's market price as public trading commenced in September. World Liberty Financial's CEO, Zach Witkoff, stated that Sun's claims were false and intended to harm WLFI token holders.

This legal action follows a prior lawsuit filed by Sun in April against World Liberty, alleging the company illegally froze his purchased tokens asourceser they became tradable in September 2025. Sun denied shorting WLFI's token in his earlier suit. World Liberty Financial's token experienced an approximate 12% rally in the 24 hours following the news of its lawsuit, though its overall value has decreased by about 72% since its September 1 trading debut. Sun's 4 billion WLFI tokens are currently valued at approximately $264 million.