World Liberty Financial sues Justin Sun in Miami; WLFI up 12%

World Liberty Financial filed a defamation lawsuit against Tron founder Justin Sun on Monday in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Florida. The complaint accuses Sun of running a paid smear campaign using press, influencers and bots to drive down the WLFI token price. WLFI is seeking unspecified damages and a public retraction.

WLFI traded near $0.06 on Monday, up about 12% over the prior 24 hours and more than 75% below its all-time high.

The dispute began after WLFI used an on-chain freeze in September 2025 to lock wallets linked to Sun. WLFI says the freeze affected 540 million unlocked tokens and 2.4 billion locked tokens held by entities tied to Sun. The project alleges that Sun’s vehicle, Blue Anthem, moved WLFI tokens to Binance in violation of an investor agreement and that those transfers, together with alleged short selling, justified the use of the contract’s freeze authority.

In its court filing WLFI wrote, “Sun’s lies were designed, in his own words, to drive the token price ‘to shit’.” The complaint alleges the posts and paid amplification were intended to suppress market demand for the token.

Sun rejected the defamation claim, calling the lawsuit a “meritless” public relations stunt. He previously filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in California in late April, accusing WLFI of fraud and breach of contract. The two suits now run on parallel tracks.

A central question for the courts is whether WLFI properly disclosed the contract’s freeze authority to buyers. Sun contends the project hid a blacklist capability inside its smart contract. WLFI maintains the freeze authority was outlined in its Terms of Sale and in the purchase agreements signed by Sun’s entities and says its governance process is community-driven and transparent.

Filings expected in the coming weeks will address the contractual disclosures around the smart contract controls and whether Sun’s public statements meet the legal standard for defamation.