World Liberty Financial has leveled accusations of ‘misconduct’ against Justin Sun, countering the Tron founder’s defamation lawsuit claims.
Co-founder Eric Trump escalated the rhetoric, claiming that the only thing more ‘absurd’ than Sun’s legal action is the infamous $6 million banana duct-taped to a wall.
Key Points:
— Justin Sun initiated a federal lawsuit against Trump-family-backed World Liberty Financial, claiming the DeFi project unlawfully froze approximately four billion WLFI tokens, which he estimates at $1 billion.
— World Liberty Financial has publicly rejected the lawsuit as baseless and a «desperate» diversion, while accusing Sun of unspecified misconduct, though it has not elaborated on these claims.
— Sun’s complaint states that World Liberty Financial privately attributed a 40% WLFI price drop to him, alleging short-selling, acting as a straw purchaser, improper exchange transfers, and KYC issues, which he denies as unfounded, and the firm has not yet formally responded in court.
Just ten months ago, Eric Trump was publicly praising Justin Sun on X. This week, he compared Sun’s lawsuit to the notorious $6 million duct-taped banana.
Sun filed a complaint on Monday in the Northern District of California, alleging that World Liberty Financial illegally froze roughly four billion $WLFI tokens valued at around $1 billion. The Trump-family-backed DeFi venture issued an informal response on Tuesday, dismissing the suit as a «desperate» diversion and pledging to continue protecting its users, with co-founder Zach Witkoff accusing Sun of «misconduct.»
Justin Sun’s recent lawsuit against @worldlibertyfi is a desperate attempt to deflect attention from Sun’s own misconduct. His claims are entirely meritless, and World Liberty looks forward to getting the case thrown out promptly.
— Zach Witkoff (@ZachWitoff) April 22, 2026
He engaged in misconduct that required World…
Neither Sun nor the company specified his alleged misconduct. A spokesperson for the firm declined to comment, instead referring Decryptnews to Witkoff and fellow co-founder Eric Trump’s posts on X.
The only thing more ridiculous than this lawsuit is spending $6 million on a banana duct-taped to a wall. We are incredibly proud of the @worldlibertyfi team… https://t.co/ahfBKvCdwN
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) April 22, 2026
The complaint itself may fill in the blanks. Sun alleged that World Liberty Financial leveled a shifting set of accusations against him in private conversations and correspondence, none of which, he argued, the company has backed up with evidence.
According to the filing, World Liberty Financial has at various points blamed Sun for the roughly 40% price crash $WLFI experienced on Sept. 1, 2025, the first day the token became tradable.
WLFI also claimed Sun drove down the price by short-selling perpetual futures on a centralized exchange, according to Sun’s complaint, an accusation Sun said is false, and that the complaint notes would be difficult to pin on him, given his transfers happened hours after the steepest drop.
World Liberty Financial separately objected to Sun’s $100 million purchase of $TRUMP tokens from a different Trump-backed project, according to the filing, but Sun said this buy got the blessing of a Trump family member who is a partner in both ventures.
The company allegedly also accused Sun of acting as a straw purchaser for other investors in violation of his token purchase agreement, executing prohibited transfers to the exchanges HTX and Binance and submitting inadequate know-your-customer documentation, according to the filing.
«On September 25, 2025, Mr. Herro repeatedly threatened to report Mr. Sun to U.S. criminal authorities over these unspecified KYC issues — which Mr. Herro and World Liberty have refused to explain in anything other than the broadest terms despite repeated requests from Plaintiffs for additional information,» Tuesday’s filing said.
WLFI has yet to file a response to Sun’s suit.