On September 17, 2025, US lawmakers sent a formal letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and the Acting Director of the Department of Corporate Finance at the SEC.
House of Representatives member Sean Kasten and Senator Jeffrey Merkley addressed regarding the activities of TRON project founder Justin San.
According to the congressmen, San has been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice since 2021, and the SEC filed a lawsuit against him in 2023 for TRX coin fraud. FinCEN also reported that TRON was used by criminal groups for financial transactions. Amid these allegations, Sun has allegedly avoided entering the U.S. because of the risk of arrest, the document said.
The politicians added that after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Sun became the largest investor in World Liberty Financial’s DeFi project, which is linked to the president’s family. According to the letter writers, he invested at least $75 million in WLFI, which generated about $400 million in profits for Trump. In addition, Sun backed the meme coin TRUMP.
The letter indicates that after these investments, the SEC, already under a new administration, dropped its lawsuit against Sun. Lawmakers see this as a potential conflict of interest.
Risks for investors and the market
As of September 2025, the WLFI token became available on major exchanges, notably Coinbase and Kraken, adding up to $5 billion in wealth for Trump, the document said. The congressmen cautioned that Sun, as one of the main investors, could manipulate the price of the token, which carries risks for retail investors.
As a result, the congressmen ordered the SEC to provide answers to a number of questions by Oct. 2, 2025, including:
- whether the SEC had contact with the White House or members of Trump’s family regarding the San case;
- whether there was direct communication with San before the lawsuit was dropped;
- how many complaints were received about San’s activities and how they were handled;
- whether the SEC is considering banning TRON in the U.S.;
- and others.
Earlier, Arkham Experts reported that the World Liberty Financial platform had blacklisted Justin San’s Ethereum address amid a possible $9 million transfer of WLFI tokens.