Trump's SEC Paused Fraud Case Against Sun in February

On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency meme coin $TRUMP surged in value after announcing an “‘exclusive invitation’”

President Trump’s cryptocurrency meme coin $TRUMP has surged in value following the announcement of an “‘exclusive invitation’ ” promising the top 220 $TRUMP holders a “private gala dinner with the President,” with the top 25 holders getting an “‘ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President' - an event that government watchdog Accountable.US called the most nakedly corrupt self-enrichment scheme in U.S. presidential history.

According to a new analysis by Accountable.US, the announcement, which was made last week, could easily lead to the administration selling out the public interest to the highest bidder with secret agendas, including foreign actors. The post adds that wealthy investors will continue to compete until May 12 over who can buy more influence with the President, while the Trump family gets richer in the process.

Now a week after the dubious competition announcement that included a tagline, "Own A Piece Of Trump," an Accountable.US review of the $TRUMP "leaderboard" finds that the current first-ranked holder with $17.8 million in $TRUMP coin could be Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun, whose federal fraud case was paused in February 2025 after Sun bought $75 Million in tokens offered by Trump crypto venture World Liberty Financial Inc. (WLFI).

"The President often villainizes China, but when it comes to letting a controversial Chinese crypto billionaire pad the pockets of his family's shady coin venture, Donald Trump seems to think that these millions of dollars spend all the same," said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. "If the top $TRUMP crypto coin holder is in fact Justin Sun who's already seen a Trump SEC case against him paused after dumping $75 million into another Trump venture, the question becomes: is this just a 'thank you' or does Sun expect another special favor from the Trump administration? And what will it cost the American people?"

Earlier this week, the official Twitter/X account of World Liberty Financial Inc. (WLFl)-another Trump family majority-owned crypto venture that has alarmed ethics experts-shared a picture of WLFl co-founders locked arm in arm with Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the former Binance CEO who was convicted of felony money laundering and who allegedly wants to trade a stake in Binance with the Trump family for an administration pardon in order to facilitate Binance's return to the U.S. market. Zhao has denied this reporting.