Key Insights Justin Sun says World Liberty’s amended filing named 22 owners and UAE citizenship. Sun says the UAE disclosure followed months of dispute over World Liberty’s arbitration bid. S
Justin Sun asked a California federal court to sanction World Liberty Financial over its delayed disclosure of United Arab Emirates citizenship. The Nov. 2 motion followed months of litigation concerning $45 million in WLFI token investments and allegedly frozen assets.
Sun argues that the company’s August ownership filing raised jurisdiction questions only after both sides contested arbitration. He plans to pursue his claims in California state court once the judge resolves his sanctions request.
Sun said his lawyers filed the motion after World Liberty Financial amended an ownership disclosure in the case. The company had identified itself as its only member and listed Florida as its sole citizenship, according to Justin Sun. Its lawyers also certified that they knew of no other parties requiring disclosure.
Less than a week after an August court hearing, the company revised that filing. Sun said in an X post the updated disclosure identified 22 members in its ownership chain and listed citizenship in Florida, Delaware, Puerto Rico, and the United Arab Emirates. World Liberty Financial now argues that the UAE connection means the federal court lacks jurisdiction, he said.
Justin Sun seeks sanctions against World Liberty Financial/Source: X
Sun’s account connects the disclosure to the rules governing his chosen court. He said federal courts can hear disputes between parties from different places, including certain cases involving foreign plaintiffs and American defendants.
But, he said, a company’s citizenship can include that of its owners, so foreign ownership may affect whether federal jurisdiction applies.
Sun said he agreed in November 2024 to buy $30 million in WLFI tokens under a purchase agreement. He later increased his total investment to $45 million. In April, Justin Sun sued World Liberty Financial, alleging that it induced his investment through fraud and then unlawfully froze his tokens.
The agreement, Sun said, allowed him to bring claims in either California federal or state court. He chose federal court. World Liberty Financial then moved to compel arbitration, seeking to move the dispute from open court into private proceedings, according to Sun.
Sun said his lawyers spent months and hundreds of thousands of dollars opposing that motion. At an August hearing, the court divided the claims, keeping some in court and sending others to arbitration, he said. The court also directed both sides to propose which claims should proceed in each venue.
The amended citizenship disclosure followed less than a week later, Sun said. He argues that the company’s lawyers either failed to conduct appropriate diligence or did not receive accurate information from the company. However, World Liberty Financial declined to explain the change when his side asked, according to his statement.
Sun’s motion asks the court to hold World Liberty Financial and its lawyers accountable for what he calls a misleading disclosure. Sun also cited the company’s public descriptions of itself as U.S.-based and focused on the American market.
He contrasted those descriptions with the amended filing, which listed UAE citizenship as one of the company’s connections. The court has yet to resolve the sanctions motion, based on the information provided by Sun.
After that decision, Justin Sun said he would refile his lawsuit in California state court. The dispute therefore involves both his claims about the frozen WLFI tokens and the court’s authority to hear the case.
In addition, Sun said he would continue to seek transparency from the company, but World Liberty Financial’s position on the sanctions request was not included in his statement.
The post Justin Sun Seeks Sanctions Against World Liberty Financial Over UAE Ties appeared first on The Coin Republic.
