The US Securities and Exchange Commission has resolved its lawsuit against crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun with a $10 million settlement, ending a three-year dispute over alleged fraud and securities-law violations.
In a letter to a Manhattan federal court, the SEC said Rainberry, one of Sun’s companies, will pay a $10 million fine and that claims against Sun, the Tron Foundation and the BitTorrent Foundation will be dismissed. The agency said Sun and his companies neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations.
The lawsuit, filed in March 2023, accused Sun, Rainberry, the Tron Foundation and the BitTorrent Foundation of selling unregistered securities through the Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) tokens and of conducting manipulative wash trading of TRX. The SEC also alleged the parties paid celebrities — including singer Akon, actress Lindsay Lohan and YouTuber Jake Paul — to promote TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation.
Sun denied the allegations and argued the case should be dismissed because the SEC was applying US law to predominantly foreign conduct.
The settlement is the latest instance of the SEC stepping back from crypto enforcement actions under the Trump administration; the agency has dropped or settled other high-profile cases filed under former chair Gary Gensler, including actions involving Kraken and Coinbase.
Lawmakers had raised concerns about Sun’s regulatory and political ties. In November 2024, after Donald Trump’s election, Sun became the largest investor in the Trump family’s crypto project World Liberty Financial, initially buying $30 million in tokens and later increasing his stake to $75 million by January 2025. Following those purchases, Sun and the SEC asked the court to pause the case to allow for settlement discussions.
Three House Democrats warned that leaving the SEC’s case against Sun unresolved could undermine investor confidence. Representatives Maxine Waters, Brad Sherman and Sean Casten urged SEC chair Paul Atkins to consider reopening the matter and raised questions about a possible “pay-to-play” arrangement tied to Sun’s World Liberty investments.
After the settlement letter was filed, Sun posted on X that “today’s resolution brings closure” and said he looked forward to working with the SEC to help develop guidance and regulations for crypto going forward.