Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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The U.S. SEC has dismissed its charges brought in 2023 against Tron founder Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, and the BitTorrent Foundation.
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However, Rainberry, which developed the BitTorrent protocol and BTT cryptocurrency token, was ordered to pay a $10 million civil penalty.
SEC Drops Charges Against Sun and the Tron Foundation
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has dismissed charges it brought against Tron founder Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, and the BitTorrent Foundation in 2023.
This is according to the Final Judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday.
However, another Sun-related entity, Rainberry (formerly BitTorrent Inc.), which developed the BitTorrent protocol and BTT cryptocurrency token under Sun's leadership, was ordered to pay a $10 million civil penalty to the regulator.
In 2023, the regulator accused Sun and his three companies of unregistered securities sales of TRX and BTT tokens.
The Tron founder was also accused of fraudulent manipulation of the TRX price via wash trading and paying celebrities to promote the tokens without disclosure.
Back then, the SEC also accused eight celebrities including Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul were accused of “illegally touting” TRX and BTT tokens without disclosing that they were being paid.
Six of the celebrities agreed to pay $400,000 in disgorgement, interest, and penalties to settle the charges without admitting fault.
The Thursday filing revealed that the defendants agreed to the SEC’s terms without admitting or denying the allegations.
Furthermore, Rainberry has agreed never to engage in deceptive market practices for securities, without admitting guilt.
Justin Sun acquired BitTorrent in June 2018 and released the BTT token a year later. The fate of several crypto companies and founders has improved since President Trump took office.
The SEC has dropped several lawsuits it brought against prominent crypto institutions like Binance, Coinbase, and Uniswap.
In February 2025, the regulator requested a stay in the Tron case to explore a potential settlement.
This latest development comes as Sun has made several massive investments in Trump family-backed crypto initiatives, including purchasing at least $75 million worth of World Liberty Financial's WLFI token and $100 million of the $TRUMP memecoin launched the weekend before Inauguration Day.
The Tron founder was also invited to a gala dinner hosted by Trump and awarded the "Trump Golden Torbillon." Since early 2025, the agency has dismissed more than a dozen crypto cases.
