Justin Sun Sues Actress Jing Tian to Recover $4.5 Million Marriage Payment

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has taken legal action against actress Jing Tian and her parents in a dispute over a 30 million yuan payment — approximately $4.5 million — that he says was made as a traditional marriage gift.

Sun, the founder of blockchain platform Tron, reportedly transferred the money to Jing Tian’s family while the two were discussing marriage. His lawyer, Zhang Qihuai, said a court in Xi’an accepted the case and that Sun had also applied for asset preservation.

The dispute has attracted widespread attention after Sun publicly described his alleged relationship with the actress in a lengthy post titled “My Girlfriend Jing Tian.”

According to Sun’s account, the pair dated with marriage in mind and discussed having a child through surrogacy in the United States. He also alleged that an additional $50 million was later requested in connection with the planned surrogacy arrangement. Sun said he consulted Anthropic’s AI chatbot Claude before deciding not to make the additional payment.

However, Sun included a disclaimer at the end of his post stating that the story was fictional. Despite that disclaimer, his lawyer subsequently confirmed that the lawsuit seeking the return of the 30 million yuan payment was real.

Jing Tian has not publicly confirmed Sun’s version of their relationship. In a statement posted on Weibo, she said she would never sell her love for money and expressed confidence in the legal system, saying she believed justice and fairness would ultimately prevail. Her management team also said the matter should be handled through legal procedures.

The legal dispute has therefore become a clash of competing accounts, with Sun seeking the return of the money and Jing leaving the matter to the courts.

The $4.5 million payment is described in reports as a bride price or betrothal gift, a traditional form of marriage-related payment in China. Whether Sun is legally entitled to recover the money will ultimately depend on the court proceedings and the circumstances surrounding the payment.

Sun, 36, founded Tron in 2017 and has become one of the most prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry. Jing Tian, 38, is a major Chinese actress who has also appeared in Hollywood productions including The Great Wall and Kong: Skull Island.

The case has generated significant discussion online, particularly because of the enormous amount involved, the celebrity status of the two parties and the unusual circumstances surrounding Sun’s public account of the relationship.

For now, the central issue before the court is whether the 30 million yuan payment should be returned following the breakdown of the intended marriage.