Tron founder Justin Sun accused First Digital Trust (FDT) of transferring $500 million in customer funds to Dubai’s banks. He’s asked the Dubai government to act promptly on the matter and stand against fraud and money laundering. He also urged the country’s regulators and banks to step up against financial crimes. Sun claimed that top executives at FDT, including CEO Vincent Chok, were involved in the fraud In an X post, Justin Sun named several individuals he believed were involved in the $500 million fraud case. They included Christian Alexander Boehnke, De Lorraine Elbouef, Vincent Chok, Yai Sukonthabhund, Matthew William Brittain, and Cecilia Teresa Brittain. He claimed they moved thousands of dollars through Hong Kong’s FDT and Legacy Trust into multiple Dubai banks, including Mashreq Bank, ADIB, Emirates NBD, and EFG. Most of the mentioned individuals held executive positions at FDT, like Vincent Chok who is, 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 safe haven for fraud and money laundering. He urged banks to conduct internal reviews, immediately freeze suspicious inflows, and proactively report them to authorities. He warned: “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.” Sun also targeted FDT in April, comparing its liquidity crash to FTX’s failure. He argued that the FDT scam was far worse because of the lack of loan collateral cover and customer consent, which made the fraud more direct. He also argued that, despite FTX mismanaging user funds, it 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.” Additionally, he asked the Hong Kong government to respond quickly like its US counterparts did when dealing with the FTX collapse. Moreover, he met with Hong Kong lawmaker Johnny Wu to discuss possible regulatory action. Sun launched a bounty initiative and website to support investigations Sun has 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. Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More
