Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, disputed Justin Sun’s characterization of a recent California federal court hearing, arguing that the crypto entrepreneur misrepresented what transpired during the August 20 proceedings on the company’s motion to compel arbitration.
Sun announced on Thursday that he had secured a “major victory” after a judge ruled his individual claims would remain in open court rather than be sent to private arbitration. He also claimed the court rejected World Liberty’s attempt to force all company-related claims into arbitration and ordered the parties to meet and confer over which claims should proceed in court.
In response, Witkoff stated that the judge made no rulings at the hearing, contrary to Sun’s account. According to Witkoff, the judge agreed with World Liberty that many claims filed by Sun’s companies must be handled through arbitration, and Sun’s legal team ultimately conceded in court that those claims did not belong in judicial proceedings.
Witkoff further rejected Sun’s claim that the hearing represented a victory, noting that World Liberty had never sought to arbitrate Sun’s personal claims in the first place. Instead, the company filed a motion seeking to dismiss Sun’s personal claims entirely on the merits, which remains pending before the court.
The dispute centers on a broader lawsuit Sun filed in April 2026, alleging that World Liberty Financial froze his WLFI tokens worth approximately $320 million and installed a hidden “blacklist” function to prevent him from selling them. Sun accused the Trump family-backed project of engaging in a fraudulent scheme to seize his property and strip him of governance rights.
World Liberty Financial responded by filing its own defamation lawsuit against Sun in Florida in May 2026, accusing him of launching a “public smear campaign” against the company. Witkoff separately accused Sun of actively evading service of process in that Florida defamation case.
The legal battle underscores the escalating tensions between Sun, one of the world’s largest crypto entrepreneurs and founder of the Tron blockchain, and the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture. The outcome of the arbitration motion and the pending dismissal motion could shape how the dispute proceeds—whether through public litigation or sealed private proceedings.
Sources
- Crypto Briefing — Witkoff’s dispute of Sun’s court victory claim, details of the hearing, and allegations of service evasion
- Reuters — Sun’s April 2026 lawsuit alleging frozen tokens and stripped voting rights
- CBS News — Sun’s allegations that World Liberty froze digital tokens worth as much as $1 billion
- Mother Jones — World Liberty’s May 2026 defamation lawsuit response
- The Guardian — Sun’s allegations of hidden token-locking mechanisms
