Crypto billionaire paid $4.5M to marry glamorous – Business News
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun says he paid $4.5 million to the household of Chinese actress Jing Tian as half of plans to marry her — and is now suing to get the money back after their romance fell aside.
Sun — who grabbed headlines in 2024 when he shelled out $6.2 million for an paintings at Art Basel in Miami that consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall, then promptly ate the banana — claims that the connection additionally collapsed amid a $50 million demand tied to having a youngster by way of surrogacy within the US.
The 36-year-old founder of blockchain company Tron mentioned the couple had been planning a future collectively when he transferred 30 million yuan — roughly $4.5 million — to Jing’s dad and mom as a conventional marriage-related cost.
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun is suing Chinese actress Jing Tian and her dad and mom to recuperate roughly $4.5 million he says was paid in reference to plans to marry her. REUTERS
“We dated with marriage in mind,” Sun mentioned in a written response to questions from the Wall Street Journal that was despatched to the newspaper by way of his lawyer.
But Sun mentioned marriage plans with 38-year-old Jing — who appeared reverse Matt Damon in “The Great Wall” and in addition had roles in “Kong: Skull Island” and “Pacific Rim Uprising” — unraveled as they ready for medical procedures within the US to have a youngster.
He alleged that the “other party” demanded $50 million and cut off communication after he refused to pay.
“The engagement could no longer proceed,” Sun informed the Journal.
Sun’s lawyer, Zhang Qihuai, mentioned on Chinese social media that a courtroom had accepted a lawsuit looking for the return of the 30 million yuan from Jing and her dad and mom.
Jing has not publicly laid out her model of the connection intimately. But a day after information of the lawsuit surfaced, the actress wrote that she had proven “poor judgment” in males whereas insisting she “will never sell my love for money.”
“I believe in the law,” she added, saying that “justice and fairness will ultimately prevail.”
Adding one other weird layer to the struggle, Sun aired his model of the romance in a sprawling social media post titled “My Girlfriend Jing Tian” — solely to append a disclaimer saying the account was fictional.
Chinese actress Jing Tian has appeared in Hollywood movies together with “The Great Wall,” “Kong: Skull Island” and “Pacific Rim Uprising.” VCG by way of Getty Images
The post described Sun’s longtime crush on the actress, a personal movie-theater date and his cost to her household.
According to the post, Sun sought advice from Anthropic’s Claude artificial intelligence chatbot after the alleged $50 million surrogacy demand — and determined towards paying after consulting the AI.
The disclaimer, mixed with Sun’s acknowledgment that parts of his account have been fictional, has left some of probably the most salacious particulars unattainable to independently set up.
The lawsuit, nonetheless, is actual, in accordance to Sun’s lawyer, who publicly recognized Jing and her dad and mom as defendants within the dispute over the 30 million yuan switch.
Jing Tian has largely saved quiet about her dispute with Justin Sun, saying solely that she believes “justice and fairness will ultimately prevail.” VCG by way of Getty Images
Sun, whose fortune estimated by Forbes at about $8.5 billion, based Tron in 2017.
In addition to the notorious banana paintings by Maurizio Cattelan, Sun paid $4.57 million for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett and paid $28 million for a seat on a Blue Origin spaceflight in 2025.
Sun has additionally confronted years of regulatory scrutiny. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued him and affiliated entities in 2023, alleging securities violations and market manipulation.
Justin Sun, whose fortune has been estimated at about $8.5 billion by Forbes, is looking for the return of a multimillion-dollar cost he says was tied to plans to marry Jing Tian. Bloomberg by way of Getty Images
That case was resolved in March, when a courtroom entered a settlement requiring Rainberry, a company tied to Sun’s crypto operations, to pay a $10 million civil penalty whereas the claims towards Sun himself, the Tron Foundation and the BitTorrent Foundation have been dismissed with prejudice.
Jing’s profession, in the meantime, has stretched from Chinese movies and tv into main Hollywood productions. Her romantic life has drawn intense public scrutiny earlier than.
Jing beforehand dated Chinese Olympic desk tennis champion Zhang Jike and was later reported to be the sufferer in a 2023 scandal involving intimate videos and an extortion attempt.
Chinese studies mentioned one other man was sentenced to seven years in jail after making an attempt to extort Jing. Zhang denied allegations that he had offered intimate materials to settle playing money owed.
