Justin Sun, the Crypto Entrepreneur Who Bought His Way into a Dinner with Donald Trump, Is a Familiar Face to Law Enforcement

We now know who won the contest to attend an intimate dinner with President Donald Trump by buying his cryptocurrency — and he's a familiar face to Securities and Exchange Commission regulators and law enforcement officials.

A Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur is the person who bought the most of President Donald Trump's new meme coin to earn an invitation to an intimate dinner with the president at a crypto gala this week, the entrepreneur confirmed Tuesday.

Justin Sun, who was charged by U.S. regulators this year with market manipulation and offering unregistered securities, said on X that he was the account, labeled "SUN," invited to the president's table.

"Honored to support @POTUS and grateful for the invitation from @GetTrumpMemes to attend President Trump’s Gala Dinner as his TOP fan!" Sun wrote. "As the top holder of $TRUMP, I’m excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry."

He capped the post with an American flag emoji.

The dinner contest, announced last week, sparked criticism from government ethics experts, who said it could be unconstitutional for the president to accept anything of value from foreign nationals. Several critics said the contest was a blatant opportunity for corruption.

Trump has not publicly commented on the accusations, and the Office of Government Ethics declined to comment. A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The president has not been as aggressive in directly promoting cryptocurrencies as some campaign backers in the industry had hoped. But his administration has abandoned or paused many pending cases that had been brought against crypto entrepreneurs and businesses. Among them was a suit that began in 2022 by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The agency, now fully controlled by Trump appointees, announced in February that it was placing a 60-day pause on the case in order to seek a resolution.

Earlier in 2023, regulators had sought various injunctions against Sun that would have largely prevented him from participating in crypto in the U.S. Tech industry website The Verge had also reported that Sun was the target of an FBI investigation.

The SEC case arose after a U.S. judge overseeing a case against the Trump administration over its travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries said he was impressed by an argument from Trump administration attorneys that was part of a broader case against a crypto entrepreneur.

That case began in 2017, when the Trump administration was sued by several technology trade groups after it moved to restrict the use of government-issued software licenses, known as Key Technology Integration Lists.

After Trump administration attorneys argued that the government should be allowed to broadly restrict the use of U.S. technology, the judge said he was persuaded by the argument and varied his ruling.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which vacated the lower court ruling and sent the case back to the appeals court to consider the broader legal question of whether the government can, without congressional approval, impose sweeping restrictions on the use of U.S. technology.

That case was eventually settled, but not before the Trump administration’s argument had a knock-on effect on another case: the SEC’s suit against Sun.

After a lower court judge ruled against the SEC and vacated a preliminary injunction, the agency moved to the appeals court, where it was largely successful.

In April 2023, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld lower court rulings that blocked the SEC from immediately banning Sun from participating in crypto in the U.S. But the appeals court did rule that the lower court erred in part by not granting a permanent injunction against Sun.

The appeals court said the lower court should have granted a permanent injunction to stop Sun from violating U.S. securities law by offering and selling unregistered securities.

The appeals court also said the lower court should have granted a permanent injunction to stop Sun from engaging in market manipulation.

The appeals court did not rule on the part of the lower court ruling that granted a preliminary injunction to stop the SEC from seeking an injunction that would have banned Sun from engaging in crypto market-making activities.

The appeals court also did not rule on the part of the lower court ruling that granted a preliminary injunction to stop the SEC from seeking an injunction that would have banned Sun from engaging in crypto derivatives trading.

The appeals court did rule that the lower court erred in part by not granting a permanent injunction to stop Sun from engaging in crypto mining.

The appeals court said the lower court should have granted a permanent injunction to stop Sun from engaging in crypto lending.

The appeals court did rule that the lower court erred in part by not granting a permanent injunction to stop Sun from engaging in crypto futures trading.

The appeals court said the appeals court should have granted a permanent injunction to stop Sun from engaging in crypto options trading.

The appeals court did rule that the lower court erred in part by not granting a permanent injunction to stop Sun from engaging in crypto exchange-linked notes trading.

The appeals court said the appeals court should have granted a permanent injunction to stop Sun from engaging in crypto structured products