SEC and Justin Sun Pause Tron Fraud Lawsuit for Settlement Talks

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Tron founder Justin Sun is in settlement talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Wednesday, Sun, the Tron Foundation and the SEC filed a joint motion seeking to pause ongoing legal proceedings to “allow the Parties to explore a potential resolution.”

In 2023, the SEC sued Sun, the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent for selling unregistered securities and fraud in the form of alleged wash trading to boost Tron’s TRX token’s trading volumes.

Sun was also charged with paying celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Ne-Yo to tout TRX and/or BTT without disclosing that they were paid.

The fraud charges may take a little more effort to settle, as everyone still agrees that wash trading, buying tokens through one account while simultaneously selling them through another, is a no-no.

Controversial Figure

Justin Sun likely has a little more juice with the Trump administration than most crypto companies, even as they suddenly find themselves Washington, D.C.’s fair-haired child.

Back when Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency project was flailing with poor token sales and failing to meet its $30 million fundraising goal, Sun stepped in and put it over the top with a $30 million purchase of WLFI governance tokens.

That changed World Liberty Financial’s fortunes, allowing it to set and meet bigger fundraising goals. The company made Sun an investor and eventually returned the favor with a $10 million purchase of Sun’s TRX.

That connection may or may not help his settlement talks, but it certainly can’t hurt them.