On April 3, TRON founder Justin Sun revealed a major financial fraud case involving the misappropriation of TUSD (TrueUSD) fiat currency reserves
On April 3, TRON founder Justin Sun revealed a major financial fraud case involving the misappropriation of TUSD (TrueUSD) fiat currency reserves at a press conference. In this case, financial institutions including Hong Kong licensed trust companies First Digital Trust Limited (FDT), Legacy Trust Company Limited (Legacy Trust), and a private company in Dubai engaged in joint fraud to misappropriate $456 million in customer funds. Sun said that while providing financial support to Techteryx, the owner of TUSD, he was concerned that this case not only threatened the public interest, but also exposed serious loopholes in the trust industry and jeopardized Hong Kong's reputation as a global financial center.
According to information disclosed at the press conference, after Techteryx acquired TUSD from TrueCoin LLC (TrueCoin) in December 2020, TrueCoin was retained and entrusted with the responsibility of selecting financial service providers and coordinating international operations, and the relevant arrangements were terminated in July 2023. During this period, TrueCoin used its trustee role to select FDT as the custodian of TUSD's legal reserve assets, managing more than $500 million in reserve funds. At the same time, TrueCoin also recommended Aria Commodity Finance Fund ("Cayman Fund") to Techteryx as a major investment.
In subsequent transactions, TrueCoin allegedly conspired with FDT and other institutions to transfer $456 million of TUSD legal reserves to a private company in Dubai wholly owned by the wife of the aforementioned Cayman fund investment manager through false documents and unauthorized transfers. Vincent Chok, CEO and director of FDT and Legacy Trust, directly approved these illegal transactions, seriously violating fiduciary obligations.
In 2023, due to FDT's failure to pay interest on certain investments made on behalf of Techteryx, Techteryx commissioned an independent professional team to conduct a comprehensive investigation of FDT and found that a large amount of escrowed customer funds had been misappropriated, and sought support from Justin Sun. Justin Sun provided assistance to Techteryx with his own funds, ensuring that TUSD had sufficient liquidity and protecting the interests of all TUSD holders.
It is reported that as early as September 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a public statement accusing TrueCoin of participating in fraudulent activities involving TUSD. These fraudulent activities occurred after the acquisition by Techteryx and when TrueCoin was still the operator of TUSD. The SEC believes that "TrueCoin made false statements about the security of investments to profit for itself while exposing investors to huge, undisclosed risks."
Justin Sun said, "These assets are public funds. In order to protect the public interest and maintain Hong Kong's reputation as an international financial center, I decided to provide liquidity support. I am shocked by the scale of the fraud, and I feel a great sense of responsibility."
Sun Yuchen called on Hong Kong regulators to take decisive measures to plug loopholes and prevent further loss of public funds. He chose to make this issue public and expose fraudulent behavior in the hope of seeing all scammers held accountable under the full force of the law. "They should never have the opportunity to defraud the public in the name of licensed institutions in Hong Kong or elsewhere again."
In this case, the fact that licensed institutions such as FDT were able to arbitrarily misappropriate public funds shows that there are still deficiencies in supervision, and the complex criminal network across jurisdictions highlights the need for global collaboration to combat financial fraud. Sun Yuchen said, "As a member of the industry, I chose to expose the truth and support TUSD in order to protect the public and promote the healthy development of the industry. Scammers must be severely punished by law."
