Justin Sun accused of paying $4 million to stars to boost TRX before selling

After-sales service, four years later. Sahil Arora accuses Justin Sun of spending more than $4 million on celebrity tweets to drive TRX and BTT higher in 2021 and 2022. The accusation comes eight months after the SEC's prosecution against the Tron founder ended.

It's from the man who made celebrity memecoins in 2024. And his screenshots tell a story a little different from his.

The key points of this article:

On X, the former memecoin promoter says he served as an intermediary paid in USDT between the Tron team and stars.

The published conversations mainly refer to tweets from 2021 already pinned by the American regulator, without trace of the accused sales.

Justin Sun and the stars' price list according to Sahil Arora

The thread dropped on Sunday, November 8 early in the afternoon, announced by a teaser the previous night. Sahil Arora writes there that “His Excellency” was in contact with him in 2021 and 2022. The nickname targets Justin Sun, former Grenada representative to the WTO. According to Arora, more than $4 million was used to get celebrities tweeting about TRX and BTT.

More seriously, he claims that with each pump Justin Sun resold pieces of his assets “without damaging the graphics”. It’s written in black and white in the thread published on X.

Arora then describes the mechanics. Justin Sun allegedly asked him for a price list, then created a group with an entity called “Tron Alliance/Rainberry” and a few close friends. Sponsors sent in their star lists. Arora charged, and the money arrived in USDT on the Tron network.

The grid is among the attachments. On December 20, 2021, the “Sun” account posted it in the group, in the form of a capture of a private exchange with Sahil. DJ Khaled is worth $185,000, Nicki Minaj 85,000 and Addison Rae 75,000. All prices are in USDT, the message specifies.

What Sahil Arora's catches really prove

A second conversation, dated January 13, 2022, takes place in a group called “Sahil <> TRON community”. Arora recalls getting many tweets for TRX and pastes three links to messages from Lindsay Lohan, Ne-Yo and Jake Paul.

These tweets date from mid-February 2021. That of Lindsay Lohan, published on February 11, is cited in the SEC complaint of March 2023, as is that of Jake Paul the next day. The regulator put their fees at $10,000 and $25,000. However, the exchanges displayed by Arora begin on December 20, 2021.

Ten months apart.

An account named “Sun”, with the verified Telegram badge, intervenes well in the discussion. There is no confirmation of who is holding it. The captures show no invoice, no onchain transaction, or sale of TRX by Justin Sun after a tweet.

Arora also takes liberties with the American file. He writes that the SEC “condemned” every celebrity. The procedure was civil, and six of them settled as of March 2023 for more than $400,000 in total.

Sahil Arora carries a heavy memecoin liability

In 2024, Arora piloted the memecoin launches of Caitlyn Jenner or Rich the Kid, then resold her tokens as soon as the stars were published. *

For several days, he has been publishing private conversations in bursts which also target trader Ansem, Mario Nawfal and streamer Clavicular. Ansem has denied having worked with him and disputes the authenticity of the messages.

On the Tron side, no response. Monday morning, Justin Sun was still posting on X about his math prize, without a word on the matter.