Following a legal battle, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun have settled to dismiss the civil fraud case involving the Tron network.
SEC and Justin Sun end Tron lawsuit with $10M settlement
Under the terms of the settlement, Rainberry Inc, an affiliate company in the TRON ecosystem, will pay a $10 million fine to make the case settlement with prejudice.
The legal battle started in March 2023 when the former SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, accused Sun and the Tron Foundation of market manipulation.
The allegations were selling unregistered securities in the form of Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) tokens, and using wash trading to make employees trade tokens between accounts Justin controlled. The core aim was to create a fake high trading volume.
SEC drops remaining claims
The SEC dismissed all remaining claims against Sun and Tron Foundation. This settlement needs final approval from a federal judge.
The lawsuit received high popularity, dragging several celebrities like Lindsley Lohan, Akon, Ne-Yo, and Jake Paul into the spotlight, accused of promoting tokens without disclosing that they were getting paid.
While the celebrities involved in the case settled their issues early on, the SEC kept the case against Justin Sun until this final settlement was reached.
Following the filing, Sun posted on X to express his relief and his vision for the future, saying the commission has dismissed all claims against him, Tron Foundation, and BitTorrent Foundation. Sun also stated he is looking forward to working with the SEC to develop guidance and regulations for crypto going forward.
The US has been implementing several regulations in the digital asset industry, as it strives to become the crypto capital of the world. Under the current administration, the SEC is closing enforcement actions against major crypto platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance.
Justin Sun is one of the large investors in World Liberty Financial, a project linked to the Trump family, where his financial exposure reportedly reached nearly $700 million by mid-2025.
