Justin Sun said his lawyers have filed a motion seeking sanctions against World Liberty Financial over the timing of the company’s disclosure that its ownership chain includes ties to citizenship in the United Arab Emirates.

The Tron founder said Tuesday on X that he asked a federal court in California to sanction the Trump family-backed crypto venture after it amended a court filing to identify 22 members of its ownership chain and their citizenship. Sun’s post is available on X.

The sanctions push adds a new front to a case in which the forum itself is contested: the ownership disclosures at issue go directly to whether the federal court can hear Sun’s claims.

Sun says World Liberty initially identified Florida as its only citizenship before later listing members with ties to Florida, Delaware, Puerto Rico, and the UAE. The company now argues that the federal court lacks jurisdiction over the case, according to Sun.

Sun is one of World Liberty’s earliest and largest investors. He agreed in November 2024 to purchase $30 million worth of the company’s WLFI tokens and later increased his total investment to $45 million.

In April, Sun sued World Liberty, alleging that the company misled him into investing and then unlawfully froze his tokens. World Liberty has responded in court by alleging that Sun shorted WLFI and drove down its price.

The current dispute centers on federal jurisdiction. Sun filed his lawsuit in federal court, which can generally hear cases involving parties from different states or jurisdictions. However, it generally cannot hear a case brought by a foreign plaintiff against a foreign defendant.

Sun argues that a company such as World Liberty assumes the citizenship of each of its owners for jurisdictional purposes. Under that view, a single foreign owner could make the company foreign for purposes of the case.

According to Sun, World Liberty’s initial disclosure to the court identified only the company itself and listed Florida as its sole citizenship. At an August hearing, a judge indicated that some of Sun’s claims should remain in open court rather than proceed to arbitration.

Sun says that less than a week after the hearing, World Liberty amended its disclosure to list 22 members in its ownership chain, including members with citizenship in Florida, Delaware, Puerto Rico, and the UAE. He argues that the late disclosure was an effort to move the case out of federal court.

Sanctions are a mechanism courts can use to penalize improper litigation conduct, and Sun’s motion seeks to require World Liberty and its lawyers to bear the related costs. He also contrasted the company’s legal position with its own marketing materials, posting excerpts from World Liberty’s “gold paper” that describe the venture as “an American, tax-paying, corporation.”

Once the court resolves the sanctions motion, Sun said he plans to refile the lawsuit in California state court. “I will keep fighting for the transparency this community deserves,” he wrote. The next markers to watch are the court’s rulings on the sanctions request and on World Liberty’s jurisdictional argument, which together will shape where and how the case proceeds.

The dispute has played out publicly for months. Sun has criticized World Liberty’s treatment of investors and alleged that the company threatened to burn his WLFI tokens.