World Liberty’s “American” Roots Go International: Sun Targets a $45M Feud Over UAE Citizenship

Justin Sun’s lawyers have asked a federal court in California to sanction the Trump family-backed crypto venture World Liberty Financial over its delayed disclosure that its ownership chain includes members with citizenship in the United Arab Emirates. Sun said Tuesday on X that the motion seeks to make World Liberty and its lawyers bear the cost of the late filing.

The Tron founder said he is one of World Liberty’s earliest and largest investors. He agreed in November 2024 to buy $30 million of its WLFI tokens and later raised his total investment to $45 million. In April, he sued the company, alleging that it misled him into investing and then unlawfully froze his tokens. World Liberty has fired back in court, alleging that Sun shorted WLFI and drove down its price.

The dispute centers on whether the federal court has jurisdiction. Sun’s lawyers contend that World Liberty takes on the citizenship of each owner, so one foreign owner makes the company foreign for jurisdictional purposes. According to Sun, World Liberty’s initial court disclosure listed only itself, with Florida as its sole citizenship. A judge signaled at an August hearing that some of Sun’s claims should remain in open court rather than move to arbitration. Less than a week later, Sun said, the company amended the disclosure to list 22 members in its ownership chain, with citizenship in Florida, Delaware, Puerto Rico, and the UAE.

World Liberty now argues that the federal court lacks jurisdiction over the case, according to Sun. He said the late disclosure was a tactic to move the case out of federal court and contrasted the company’s legal position with its own marketing, posting excerpts from World Liberty’s “gold paper” that describe it as “an American, tax-paying, corporation.” The company’s native WLFI token fell to just shy of $0.08, down 20%, as the public feud intensified.

Once the sanctions motion is resolved, Sun said, he will refile his lawsuit in California state court. “I will keep fighting for the transparency this community deserves,” he wrote. The feud has played out publicly for months, with Sun criticizing how World Liberty treats investors and alleging that the company threatened to burn his WLFI tokens.