Justin Sun Beams After Winning Defamation Suit in China

Justin Sun claims he has secured a legal victory in China after a media outlet admitted it published false content that damaged his reputation.

The controversial Tron founder, who continues to face uncomfortable questions about the health of his crypto empire, had sued the Chongqing Business Media Group over an article it published in March 2022.

Published on eastmoney.com, the piece had alleged:

• Sun was involved in insider trading, fraud and money laundering
• Had fled China to sidestep a ban on initial coin offerings
• Was being investigated in the U.S. by the FBI and IRS

Sun hit back—and argued that the article's defamatory nature was amplified after being picked up by a slew of crypto media outlets.

In an announcement on an official courts website, Chonqing admitted it "failed to fulfill our duty of reasonable care," and issued a "solemn apology."

According to a news release issued by Tron DAO, the settlement means the inflammatory content has now been taken down, with a correction prominently printed in a national newspaper.

Sun, who was born Sun Yuchen, welcomed the ruling on X.

Converted into English, his post reads:

"I finally won my defamation lawsuit! The rumormonger has published an apology letter on the People's Court website! Although it has been two years, justice has come late!"

Tron DAO went on to warn that the verdict should caution newsrooms against "citing unverified sources and spreading unsubstantiated information."

In other words... watch out, or I'll sue.

The backstory

Chongping's article came hot on the heels of an in-depth piece written by The Verge, which curiously remains online to this very day.

That piece, written by Christopher Harland-Dunaway, was based on interviews with 15 anonymous sources "who feared retaliation" from Sun. One former employee at Poloniex, an exchange that the entrepreneur acquired five years agom was quoted as saying:

"Justin's tolerance for risk is absurdly high. Like, absurdly high. And I don't know if it's because he knows more than I do, like he just believes fully in his bones that he's set up legally to protect himself."

Despite the backslapping in Sun's announcement, there's no escaping the fact that he and three of his crypto firms—Tron, BitTorrent and Rainberry—continue to face scrutiny in a long-running probe led by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Some of the allegations made by the regulator include the unregistered sale of cryptoasset securities and market manipulation of TRX tokens through "extensive wash trading" on secondary markets.

Regardless of your views on Justin Sun, and Tron, the outcome of this case will have significant ramifications for the wider crypto sector, as a ruling in his favor could open the door to greater regulatory clarity.