Justin Sun Addresses World Liberty Financial Dispute in Latest Update

A federal judge in California ruled today that Justin Sun’s individual claims against World Liberty Financial will stay in open court, rejecting the company’s bid to move the entire dispute into private arbitration and seal the record. The judge also declined to send all of the company-related claims to arbitration, instead ordering Sun and World Liberty to negotiate which of those claims belong in court and which go to arbitration. The ruling keeps alive the possibility that discovery in the case surfaces details World Liberty would rather keep private, including how its token contract actually works. Sun, an early and major investor in World Liberty’s WLFI token, is suing over what his complaint describes as a hidden backdoor that lets the company freeze, restrict, or burn any holder’s tokens without notice. He says World Liberty used that power against him. What Sun’s Lawsuit Alleges Today, my counsel appeared in California federal court to oppose World Liberty Financial’s @worldlibertyfi efforts to force our dispute into secret arbitration proceedings and seal documents from public view. We argued forcefully that this case belongs in open court—and the… — H.E. Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) August 20, 2026 Sun invested $45 million in World Liberty’s token sale, an infusion his complaint credits with helping turn a struggling raise into one that ultimately reached $550 million. According to Sun’s complaint, World Liberty then froze his WLFI holdings, an amount independently confirmed at about $9 million, using a freeze function embedded in the smart contract. Sun says he obtained a court order barring World Liberty from destroying or reallocating his tokens while the case proceeds, and he’s suing for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Sun also says World Liberty has built the same freeze capability into USD1, its stablecoin. That claim isn’t purely hypothetical. World Liberty froze USD1-linked addresses tied to the exchange HTX earlier this year, saying it was complying with UK sanctions rules after Huobi Global was designated over alleged Russian sanctions-evasion activity. HTX disputed that characterization and delisted USD1 in response, saying the frozen funds belonged to ordinary users. World Liberty’s Response World Liberty has rejected Sun’s allegations. Chief executive Zach Witkoff has called the lawsuit “a desperate attempt to deflect attention from Sun’s own misconduct” and said Sun’s claims are “entirely meritless,” adding that Sun’s own conduct forced the company to act to protect itself and its users. Co-founder Eric Trump dismissed the suit without addressing its specific claims. The company has also countersued Sun for defamation in Florida state court.