Sun's Personal Claims Stay in Open Court Amid Arbitration Dispute

Justin Sun's personal claims against World Liberty Financial (WLFI) will remain in open court, according to an August 20 hearing. The parties are working to determine which claims by two of Sun-controlled companies must be moved into private arbitration.

Sun said U.S. District Judge James Donato kept his individual claims in open court and directed the parties to confer over claims brought by Blue Anthem Limited and Black Anthem Limited, both controlled by Sun. The dispute is part of the case Sun et al. v. World Liberty Financial LLC, filed April 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The underlying case stems from WLFI's control over Sun's holdings, a dispute that began publicly when his wallet was blacklisted after WLFI became transferable in September 2025. Sun's complaint alleges World Liberty modified the WLFI smart contract to add a blacklist function without governance vote or advance disclosure, freezing tokens held by Sun and limiting their ability to transfer, stake, and exercise governance rights.

World Liberty disputes those allegations, maintaining that its authority to restrict addresses was disclosed through contractual terms and token documentation. The company points to issuer-level freezes among centralized stablecoins, including Tether's USDT, which has frozen tokens in response to sanctions and law-enforcement actions.