Tron founder Justin Sun has accused First Digital Trust of moving $500 million in user funds to banks in Dubai. He also urged the Dubai government to act on the matter and stand against fraud and money laundering. He also called on the country’s regulators to stand firm against financial crimes.
In an X post, Sun named several individuals who he believed could be part of the fraud case, including Christian Alexander Boehnke, De Lorraine Elbouef, Vincent Chok, Yai Sukonthabhund, Matthew William Brittain, and Cecilia Teresa Brittain. Sun claimed they moved thousands of dollars using Hong Kong’s FDT and Legacy Trust into several banks in Dubai, including Mashreq Bank, ADIB, Emirates NBD, and EFG.
Justin Sun accuses FDT of fraud
Most of the mentioned individuals held executive positions at FDT, like Vincent Chok, the CEO and director of FDT and Legacy Trust, and Yai Sukonthabhund, an investment manager and advisor of both companies. Sun has called on the Dubai government, regulators, and banks to act swiftly and decisively, stressing that Dubai must not become a haven for fraud and money laundering.
He urged banks to conduct internal reviews, immediately freeze suspicious inflows, and proactively report them to authorities. “Do not become enablers of criminal activity. I remain confident that the authorities in Dubai and UAE will take firm action and stand with us in the global fight against financial crime,” he said.
He also argued that despite FTX’s misuse of users’ funds, the company maintained internal records that characterized the criminal activity as pledged loans. FTT, SRM, and MAPS were used as acceptable collateral for their illegal activity, contrary to FDT, which stole funds directly without user authorization and knowledge.
Sun even argued that at least some of FTX’s funds went into investments in firms like Robinhood and Anthropic, while FDT moved funds into their private entities and none in investments. He even threw shade at FDT CEO Vincent Chok Zhuo for not being remorseful. He said the CEO had “no interest in accepting any responsibility or being accountable.”
In addition, he urged the Hong Kong government to act quickly like its US counterparts did when it dealt with FTX’s collapse. He also met with Hong Kong lawmaker Johnny Wu to discuss possible regulatory measures. Sun has also launched a $50 million reward program to help the ongoing investigation. He even had a website to reveal the alleged scheme.
FDT, however, has said Sun’s allegations were unfounded and has subsequently sued him for slander. Sun’s claim has also appeared to garner some interest from lawmakers. Hong Kong regulators recently began taking a closer look at local trust companies. In the meantime, the market cap for FDT’s stablecoin, FDUSD, has fallen from over $2.5 billion to about $1.4 billion.