But Sun alleged that those running World Liberty, including another co-founder, Chase Herro, are using it as a “golden opportunity to leverage the Trump brand to profit through fraud”.
In his complaint, filed on Tuesday in a San Francisco federal court, Sun argued that initial promises to give token-holders the option to trade the currency in future “were false and misleading”.
While the tokens at large became tradeable, Sun said World Liberty has blocked him from being able to sell a single one, and is now threatening to “burn” his – deleting them entirely.
Zach Witkoff, another co-founder of World Liberty and the son of President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, said Sun’s lawsuit 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,” Witkoff said, and claimed that Sun has engaged in “misconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users”.
Eric Trump added: “The only thing more ridiculous than this lawsuit is spending $6m on a banana duct-taped to a wall.”
In 2024 Sun bought, then ate, an artwork by Maurizio Cattelan which consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall.
Investors have also grown concerned about World Liberty borrowing against the value of its tokens.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its investigation into Sun, with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, questioning if it was tied to his investments in Trump’s crypto ventures., external
Sun had been accused of paying high-profile influencers to promote his companies on social media, without disclosing the payments.