Crypto mogul sues Trump family venture over alleged fraud
Justin Sun, founder of Tron, during the Token2049 conference in Singapore on Oct. 2, 2025. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A cryptocurrency mogul who has invested tens of millions of dollars in various enterprises tied to President Donald Trump and his family filed suit against the Trump family’s flagship crypto venture late Tuesday for, among other claims, alleged breach of contract and fraud — a major escalation of a feud that erupted on social media earlier this month.
Justin Sun, a Chinese-born billionaire who has cultivated deep ties to the Trumps, filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in a California federal court, accusing World Liberty Financial of freezing his investment in the firm’s digital tokens in a bid to “ratchet up pressure” on Sun to promote another one of the company’s offerings.
Sun “has long been (and remains) an ardent supporter of President Trump and the Trump family” and has invested roughly $45 million in World Liberty Financial at least in part “because of the Trump family’s association with the project,” Sun’s lawyers wrote.
But Sun’s lawsuit accused other World Liberty “operators” of “engaging in an illegal scheme to seize property … [causing] Mr. Sun and his companies to incur hundreds of millions of dollars in damages,” his lawyers wrote.
A World Liberty Financial spokesperson directed ABC News to posts on X from Eric Trump, who called the suit “ridiculous,” and World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff called the claims in the suit “entirely meritless.”
“World Liberty looks forward to getting the case thrown out promptly,” Zach Witkoff wrote.
Eric Trump, the son of President Trump, and Zach Witkoff, the son of the president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, helped launch World Liberty Financial in 2024, shortly before Donald Trump’s election.
Sun gained notoriety in part for his purchase of a $6 million banana art piece — an actual piece of fruit duct-taped to a wall — and has since invested in both World Liberty Financial and the president’s meme coin, called $TRUMP. He attended a gala last year for the top investors in the meme coin and currently sits atop the leaderboard for a luncheon scheduled for this weekend at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Earlier this year, Sun agreed to pay $10 million to resolve a civil fraud case brought by the Biden-era Securities and Exchange Commission.
In his lawsuit filed Tuesday, Sun accused executives at World Liberty Financial — excluding members of the Trump family — of using the firm “as a golden opportunity to leverage the Trump brand to profit through fraud.”
He accused the firm of seizing his coins as leverage to persuade Sun to promote World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, called USD1, and “mint” it on his own platform, called TRON — a strategy he called “a pressure tactic that itself qualifies as criminal extortion.”
Sun first raised these concerns on social media earlier this month. World Liberty Financial at the time denied the allegations and added in a post on X, “See you in court pal.”
(INDIANAPOLIS) — If all politics is local, as the old saying goes, a pair of identical twins in Indiana proves that those local politics often start as a family affair — and don’t have to become uncivil.
Nick and Nathan Roberts may look exactly alike, but the 25-year-old brothers and members of the next generation of America’s civic leaders are anything but identical when it comes to their politics.
“From the time we were younger, he ended up in more right wing circles on the internet,” Nick said of his brother in an interview with ABC News Live PRIME. “I was in more of just more liberal circles. I don’t know what happened.”
They still live together with their grandparents, sharing a love of dogs, books and desire to travel the world. But that’s where the similarities end.
Nick Roberts, a diehard Democrat, is an Indianapolis city-county councilor and one of the youngest elected officials in the country.
Nathan Roberts, who identifies as a MAGA Republican, founded an Indiana political advocacy group last year and is a state organizer for Turning Point, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk.
“Our dad was conservative and our mom was liberal,” Nathan Roberts said. “I guess those are good examples of our family being divided.”
The Roberts twins, both college dropouts, are also Gen Z political outliers. More American twentysomethings identify as independents than any other group of adults, according to Gallup. Roughly one in four identify as Democrats, even fewer as Republicans.
“If you want to make a difference, you have to be involved,” said Nick Roberts. “And it’s easy, I think, to throw your hands up and say, ‘Well, I’m an independent. I hate both parties.’ But if you actually want to be engaged in the process, you have to kind of pick a side.”
“I think a lot of people go independent because it’s kind of like a sign of, like purity, like I’m above the thing,” added Nathan Roberts, “but really, it’s just like you not having much of a voice. I sort of understand and respect what people do when they go independent, I just don’t think it’s the right strategy.”
The twins got engaged in politics as Donald Trump rode down the escalator in Manhattan in 2015, launching his first presidential campaign. In 2020, they participated in their first campaigns and later supported rival candidates for president in 2024.
They say they agree on support for public safety, veterans issues and even protecting the environment. Their sharpest disagreement: immigration.
“I support law enforcement, but there’s come a point where, you know, we are nation immigrants,” said Nick Roberts. “Everybody came from immigrants at one point or another, and we have to do it humanely with laws, but not where we’re treating people inhumanely like we’ve seen over the last few months.”
Nathan Roberts rejects the view of an American “melting pot.”
“‘Nation of immigrants’ — those terms didn’t, none of them even existed until post-1900. You never heard George Washington saying America is a nation of immigrants,” he said.
On 95% of the issues, they sharply disagree and are dug in. When President Trump demanded Indiana redraw its election map to help Republicans in November, the twins even testified against each other in the statehouse.
Still, in what some see as a lesson for the country, the Roberts twins insist they manage never to get angry or unloving with each other.
“He’s very intelligent, and I love the fact he gets involved. You have all these people giving their opinions about stuff on the internet, but none of them lift a finger, besides maybe voting,” Nathan Roberts said of his brother. “He’s somebody who shows up to stuff.”
Nick Roberts said behind the “provocative” rhetoric, Nathan Roberts is reasoned and informed. “Though he pretends to be like a very inflammatory guy on social media,” he said, “I think he is very well-read on history and knows a lot of his stuff and the law, especially immigration.”
With no desire for higher political office for now, the Roberts twins say they’re just content to be councilor and constituent, as brothers, modeling civility and love despite the deepest political differences.
“Believe it or not, he’s actually not one of my most demanding constituents,” Nick Roberts said of Nathan Roberts with a chuckle.
“There’s been a time when I’m like, you know, you could change that, like, traffic sign to be slightly better and there wouldn’t be such a traffic jam at that place at 5pm,” Nathan Roberts quipped with a smile, “and he would be like that would be a good idea.”
(LONDON) — December saw a new record number of Ukrainian long-range drones shot down by Russian forces, according to statistics published by the Russian Defense Ministry and analyzed by ABC News, with Moscow claiming to have destroyed more than 4,300 over the course of the month.
Through December, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have shot down 4,379 Ukrainian long-range drones, at a rate of around 141 each day.
ABC News cannot independently verify the data released by either Russia or Ukraine. It is possible that both sides may seek to exaggerate the effectiveness of their air defenses, or to amplify the attacks against them as proof that their enemies are not interested in pursuing a peace deal.
The total number of Ukrainian drones being reported as shot down by Moscow is still significantly less than the number of munitions launched into Ukraine by Russian forces, as detailed in the daily after-action reports from the Ukrainian air force.
But the gap between the two figures appeared to have narrowed in December compared to recent months, according to data released by both sides and analyzed by ABC News.
In December, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 5,307 long-range munitions — 5,131 drones and 176 missiles. Of the drones, nearly 81% were shot down or suppressed, while around 64% of missiles were also defeated, the air force said.
The scale of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine through December were similar to previous months, all of which were slightly down on the record-breaking month of July.
Over the course of July, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 6,443 munitions — 6,245 drones and 198 missiles — into the country.
This year has seen an exponential increase in the scale of long-range cross-border strikes by both Russia and Ukraine, according to data released by each side, as the combatants try to destabilize their opponent’s economy and sap their ability to marshal military and financial resources to fight the ongoing war.
Neither side provides detailed data on the scale of their own attacks or their targets, though often release statements describing the targets as military, energy or industrial sites. Both sides accuse the other of intentionally attacking civilian targets.
Both Kyiv and Moscow do offer limited information on their day-to-day air defensive actions.
Ukraine’s air force publishes what it says is a daily tally of Russian drone and missile strikes, including information as to how many munitions were intercepted and how many hit targets. Russia’s Defense Ministry only publishes figures of Ukrainian drones it claims were shot down.
The last month of the year saw the reported number of Ukrainian drones surpass even the most intense months of 2025, which has seen the largest barrages of the war, according to data published by both Ukraine and Russia.
The days on which Russia reported the highest number of drones shot down this year were on Dec. 24, when 387 drones were reported destroyed, and on Dec. 11, when 336 drones were recorded as having been intercepted.
Until December, the largest number of Ukrainian drones reported having been downed by Russian forces was in October, when Moscow said it destroyed 3,641 drones at a rate of over 117 per day.
In November, Russia reported downing 3,392 Ukrainian drones at a rate of 113 per day. December saw a 29% increase in reported Ukrainian drones shot down versus November, according to Russian data.
It is unlikely that Russian data offers a full picture of Ukraine’s offensive drone activities. But the numbers appear indicative of Kyiv’s efforts to grow its drone and missile arsenals, the reach of those munitions and the intensity with which it can attack targets inside Russia.
Ukraine’s military confirms the targets of some long-range strikes. When Kyiv does describe the targets, officials say they’re military sites or industrial energy facilities. Over the past year, Ukraine has adopted a special focus on attacking Russian oil refining and transport facilities.
Among the targets claimed struck by Ukraine’s military in December were oil refineries, oil tankers, oil rigs and pipeline infrastructure.
Ukrainian officials have been clear on the value they place on Kyiv’s long-range strike capabilities — and on their intention to further expand their drone and missile arsenals to reach deeper into Russia. To date, the majority of Ukrainian strikes are believed to have been conducted using relatively cheap, Ukrainian-made drones.
“Our production potential for drones and missiles alone will reach $35 billion next year,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in October. “Despite all the difficulties, Ukrainians are creating their national defense product that, in certain parameters, already surpasses many others in the world.”
“Never before in history has Ukrainian defense been so long-range and so felt by Russia,’ Zelenskyy said. “We must make the cost of war absolutely unacceptable for the aggressor — and we will.”
Russian officials have broadly sought to downplay the Ukrainian attacks, with most reports of damage or casualties attributed to falling debris from intercepted drones, rather than craft that found their mark.
But plentiful publicly available information — including video footage and photographs of the attacks — indicate that a significant number of Ukrainian drones do get through Russian air defenses and impact at sensitive military and industrial sites.
Tugboat pushing a barge upstream on the Mississippi River at West Memphis, Arkansas. (Ron Buskirk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Mayors from Minnesota to Louisiana traveled to Washington earlier this month with a bipartisan message that protecting the Mississippi River is not just an environmental issue, it is a matter of national security.
The mayors met with lawmakers and federal officials, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, as part of their annual Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative fly-in, and later spoke with ABC News about growing pressures facing the river corridor.
Stretching more than 2,300 miles through 10 states, the Mississippi River forms the backbone of one of the most important economic corridors in America. According to data shared by the mayors’ coalition, the river system generates nearly $500 billion in annual revenue and directly supports about 1.5 million jobs.
Its waters also carry a massive share of the nation’s agricultural exports, making the river central to U.S. and global food supply chains. According to the National Park Service, the Mississippi River Basin accounts for 92% of America’s agricultural exports, including 78% of the world’s exports of grains and soybeans.
Founded in 2012, the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative (MRCTI) brings together local governments along the river corridor to coordinate priorities including clean water, economic stability, disaster resilience and food security.
However, this year’s trip to Washington came with new urgency.
Several mayors said the rise of artificial intelligence, declining infrastructure, growing demand for water and energy, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East affecting fuel prices and increasingly severe weather events are placing unprecedented pressures on the region.
One concern raised during the discussions was growing interest from water-scarce regions in the western U.S.
“The Colorado River Basin is looking at the Mississippi River Basin to move water into areas of Phoenix, Vegas — the places that are most water insecure on the continent,” Colin Wellenkamp, executive director of MRCTI and a Missouri state representative, told ABC News.
He added they “are looking into the Mississippi River basin for their water supply for the future.”
Coalition co-chair Mayor Melisa Logan of Blytheville, Arkansas, said the river system has become a national security concern as water demands grow.
“This water is absolutely essential for the security of the country, and you move it to another basin irresponsibly, right? That puts the nation at risk,” Logan told ABC News.
Several major U.S. water systems are already governed by interstate compacts, including the Great Lakes Water Compact and the Delaware River Basin Compact. These legally binding agreements, often approved by Congress, help to establish rules for managing and protecting shared water resources.
Supporters of a Mississippi River Compact say a similar framework could help coordinate policy across the 10 states that rely on a basin that supports national and international trade and food supply chains.
“That’s why these mayors are pursuing a Mississippi River Compact to protect the Mississippi,” Wellenkamp said.
He noted that his state passed a law for such an agreement.
“The other nine states aren’t far behind, because this is a real risk in the future,” Wellenkamp added.
Beyond water access, many mayors said the rising cost of disasters has become another urgent concern for communities along the river.
Logan, Blytheville’s mayor, said protecting the river requires key coordination across state lines, as communities along the river often struggle to secure federal funding for projects that cross state boundaries.
“Typically, they do it state by state by state,” Logan said, referring to federal funding programs. “But these impacts are multi-state by watershed.”
According to MRCTI materials, natural disasters along the Mississippi River corridor have caused more than $250 billion in losses since 2005.
Mayor Buz Craft of Vidalia, Louisiana, said local leaders often face delays when seeking federal disaster assistance.
“We need Congress to quit changing the goal post, for example, when we have an issue, whether it’s a tornado or hurricane,” he said.
Changing White House administrations can also put them back to square one, Craft noted.
“Just when you are about to get that funding for that past disaster they say ‘Oh, now you got to go through this,’ start all over and apply to this program, and it’s really a rat race,” he said.
Global instability is also beginning to show up in everyday costs for residents along the river. Several of the mayors said fuel prices along the Mississippi River recently jumped about 20 cents overnight. Those increases can quickly ripple through food prices, the mayors said, because much of the nation’s food supply moves by truck, rail or barge along the Mississippi River system.
Meanwhile, some communities are also preparing for a different kind of pressure, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure. The data centers that power AI systems require massive amounts of electricity and water for cooling, placing new increased demands on local power grids and water systems.
Mayor David Goins of Alton, Illinois, said companies have already begun exploring potential sites in his city.
“I think it’s important to get in front of it and get ahead of it,” he said. “This meeting right here is timely to get the resources that we can, that we can have at our disposal through different companies, organizations, to start preparing ordinances and start getting some type of framework or groundwork, because it’s coming.”
For the mayors gathered in Washington, the message they hoped policymakers would hear was simple: the Mississippi River’s importance stretches far beyond the cities along its banks.
“If you don’t live on the Mississippi River, you don’t necessarily understand the importance of the Mississippi River Basin to our entire continent,” Quincy, Illinois, Mayor Linda Moore said. “One in 12 people in the world is fed by food that flows up and down the Mississippi on a barge or from the river itself.”
For the mayors who traveled to Washington this week, the Mississippi River is more than a waterway — it is an economic lifeline whose currents shape American agriculture, trade and communities across the country.
Mayor Hollies Winston of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, said the river’s influence reaches far beyond the 10 states it touches, and may stretch long into the future.
“If that water is not protected, we don’t know the impact that that has on the economy 15, 20, 30 years from now,” Winston said.
