Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF)

In December, Popular Information reported that Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun have requested a stay of proceedings in the case against Sun, which would allow the agency to negotiate a favorable settlement or drop the case entirely. The request was granted by a federal judge on Thursday.

The regulator and Sun sent a joint letter to the judge on Wednesday, asking for a stay of Sun’s case. The SEC charged Sun and three of his companies with fraud, accusing him of marketing unregistered securities and “fraudulently manipulating the secondary market” for a crypto token.

The agency’s complaint, which was filed in March, also accused Sun of wash trading, which involves buying and selling a token quickly to quickly to fraudulently manufacture artificial interest.

The SEC also charged Sun with paying celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and Soulja Boy, for endorsing his crypto "without disclosing their compensation," which violates federal law.

A few weeks after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Sun announced that he had become World Liberty Financial's (WLF) largest investor, buying $30 million of its tokens.

Sun’s purchase resulted in a cash windfall for Trump. WLF was entitled to “$30 million of initial net protocol revenue” in a reserve “to cover operating expenses, indemnities, and obligations.” After the reserve was met, a company owned by Trump would receive “75% of the net protocol revenues.”

Sun’s purchase covered the entire reserve. As of December 1, this amounted to $18 million for Trump — 75% of the revenues of all other tokens sold at the time.

Sun also joined WLF as an advisor. While the purchase benefited Trump, WLF tokens are essentially worthless for Sun, as they are non-transferable and locked indefinitely.

Nevertheless, Sun has since invested another $45 million in WLF, bringing his total investment to $75 million. This means Sun's purchases have sent more than $50 million to Trump, Bloomberg reported.

Sun has also continued to shower Trump with praise. On January 22, Sun post on X, “if I have made any money in cryptocurrency, all credit goes to President Trump.”

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Now, the SEC seems poised to negotiate a favorable settlement with Sun or drop the case entirely. Yesterday, the SEC and Sun filed a joint request for a 60-day stay in the case against Sun to “allow the Parties to explore a potential resolution.”

Sun seems pleased. He responded to news of the request for a stay on X, posting three handshake emojis.

Last week, Brian Armstrong, CEO of the crypto trading platform Coinbase, announced that the SEC was dismissing its lawsuit against the company.

The move came after Coinbase boosted Trump's crypto meme coin, donated $75 million to a pro-Trump Super PAC, and chipped in $1 million to Trump's inauguration celebration.