Judge Keeps Sun’s Case Public as World Liberty Trust Awaits OCC

On Aug. 20, a federal judge denied World Liberty Financial’s motion to compel arbitration in litigation brought by Justin Sun, leaving his individual claims in open court. Court records show World Liberty also moved to seal case materials; that effort was not granted. The ruling comes six days after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval for World Liberty Trust Company.

The OCC’s Aug. 14 document gives the proposed trust bank conditional clearance to issue and redeem the USD1 stablecoin and to manage its reserve assets. The filing states the trust will not issue, custody, or deal in WLFI tokens. The trust cannot begin operations until it meets pre-opening requirements and the OCC reserved the right to modify, suspend or rescind approval if intervening events warrant.

Sun’s complaint, filed in April 2026, traces to actions in September 2025. Filings say World Liberty restricted WLFI tokens linked to Sun after those tokens moved toward exchanges. The complaint alleges his WLFI holdings were frozen and that World Liberty developed tools that could limit sales when WLFI became transferable. World Liberty’s court filings counter that Sun made transfers that breached project rules and acted against the token’s interests.

In June 2026, World Liberty froze wallets tied to the exchange HTX during a separate dispute. HTX removed USD1 from its platform and converted customer USD1 balances to Tether’s USDT. Court records show those administrative powers affected exchange-linked customer funds before the OCC issued preliminary approval for the trust bank.

The OCC noted indirect common ownership between World Liberty Financial LLC and the proposed trust bank. Filings identify potential links through shared executives, treasury decisions or governance arrangements. The OCC also requires the trust bank to hold at least $20 million in Tier 1 capital, a separate buffer from reserves backing USD1.

Federal stablecoin rules require issuers to keep reserves identifiable and segregated from other corporate assets, on at least a one-to-one basis, to meet redemption obligations. Sun’s damages claim references hundreds of millions of dollars and cites USD1’s roughly $4 billion market capitalization; filings show reserve assets intended to back redemptions are distinct from corporate assets and bank capital.

Administrative tools such as address freezing and pausing appear in World Liberty’s governance and are commonly used by centralized stablecoin issuers to comply with sanctions, court orders and law enforcement requests. The pending written court order and any future filings are likely to clarify how WLFI token-control decisions relate to USD1 governance. The OCC retains discretion to change its decision before final authorization while the trust completes pre-opening conditions.