World Liberty Financial Sues Justin Sun for Defamation Over Smear Campaign

World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture co-founded by President Donald Trump and his sons, sued Justin Sun for defamation on Monday. The suit accuses the crypto billionaire of running a public smear campaign against the business.

Filed in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Florida, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a public retraction of Sun's social media statements about World Liberty Financial.

The allegations heighten tensions between World Liberty Financial and Sun, a major investor. Sun sued the startup for fraud in April, claiming it illegally blocked him from selling digital tokens worth up to $1 billion.

World Liberty Financial's lawsuit claims Sun bet against its crypto tokens, which trade under the $WLFI ticker, and used straw purchases through third parties to hide his identity. The company said it froze tokens owned by one of Sun's companies to protect World Liberty and $WLFI holders.

Rather than work constructively with World Liberty to address the misconduct, Sun started a scorched earth pressure campaign to extract hundreds of millions of dollars, the lawsuit states. It says his counsel threatened litigation meant to light World Liberty on fire.

When World Liberty refused to give in to the threats, Sun launched his public smear campaign, according to the suit.

Sun's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a post on X, Sun called the suit a meritless PR stunt. He said he stands by his actions and looks forward to defeating the case in court.

The lawsuit accuses Sun of making false social media claims, such as saying the company treats the crypto community as a personal ATM and has improper governance practices. World Liberty Financial also charged him with using online influencers and fake social-media bot accounts to spread his lies.

Sun's posts drew millions of views and generated widespread media coverage, the suit claims. As a prominent crypto figure, his comments proved profoundly harmful to World Liberty, it alleges.