We now know who won the contest to attend an intimate dinner with President Donald Trump by buying his cryptocurrency — and he's a familiar face to Securities and Exchange Commission regulators and law enforcement officials. Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur,confirmed in an X post Tuesdayhe was behind the account, labeled "SUN," that purchased the most $TRUMP meme coin to sit at the president's tableat a crypto-focused gala slated for Thursday. "Honored to support@POTUSand grateful for the invitation from@GetTrumpMemesto attend President Trump's Gala Dinner as his TOP fan!" Sun wrote. "As the top holder of$TRUMP, I'm excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry." He capped the post with an American flag emoji. Critics haveblastedthe dinner contest aspotentially unconstitutionaland a blatant opportunity for corruption. Trump has not publicly commented on the accusations, and the The Office of Government Ethics has declined to comment. A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. While Trump has not been as aggressive in directly promoting cryptocurrencies as some campaign backers in that industry had hoped, his administration has abandoned or paused many pending cases previously brought against crypto entrepreneurs and businesses. That includes Sun, who waschargedin 2023 with market manipulation and offering unregistered securities. Regulators sought various injunctions against him that would have largely prevented him from participating in crypto in the U.S. The Verge, a tech industry website,had also reported Sun was the target of an FBI investigation. But in February, the SEC, now controlled by Trump appointees, agreed to a 60-day pause of the suit in order to seek a resolution. Two months earlier, Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF), the crypto venture backed by Trump and his family, the website Popular Informationreported. Eventually, Sun became the largest publicly known investor in World Liberty after he brought his funding total to $75 million. According to Bloomberg News, per the terms of World Liberty's financial structure, 75% of the proceeds of token sales like Sun's get sent to the Trump family as a fee — meaning they may have directly earned as much as $56 million. On January 22, Sun posted on X, "if I have made any money in cryptocurrency, all credit goes to President Trump." Sun may now be a multibillionaire, with a net worth estimated at $8.5 billionaccording to Forbes. Hereportedlywas forced to spend $2 billion to shore up one of his crypto firms that was facing collapse in 2022. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what he hoped to get out of the dinner with the president.
