Justin Sun allegedly asked CoinDesk owners to remove banana article: report

Justin Sun’s team has reportedly filed a complaint against CoinDesk owner Bullish over an article about Sun eating the world’s most expensive banana. Sources say Bullish asked CoinDesk to remove the article.

The Tron (TRX) founder’s team allegedly went to crypto exchange Bullish, which acquired the media outlet for $75 million last year, to demand the removal of an article about Justin Sun taking out Maurizio, according to a Fortune report published on December 18. Cattelan’s $6.2 million banana artwork.

The article was published in late November with the headline “I Watched Justin Sun Eat the World’s Most Expensive Banana.” “I don’t understand,” he said, explaining the context behind the action, the significance of the banana, and Sun’s legal troubles with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to inside sources Fortune spoke to, Sun’s team did not approve of the tone of CoinDesk’s article, and as a result, Bullish requested that CoinDesk remove the article from its website. This request was met with a backlash from CoinDesk’s editorial team, which disagreed with the decision and asked for the article to be reinstated in an editor’s note at a meeting last week.

Based on crypto.news internet search “I Watched Justin Sun Eat the World’s Most Expensive Banana. I don’t understand you. Couldn’t find it anywhere on the streaming site. But it’s still available on Yahoo News. This article was last updated on December 2.

Coincidentally, the CoinDesk piece also noted Sun’s legal team’s history of threatening news organizations with legal action, particularly regarding reports implicating the Tron blockchain being misused to fund illegal activities. It should also be noted that Tron is the main sponsor of CoinDesk’s conference series Consensus.

Bullish CEO Tom Farley did not respond to Fortune’s multiple requests for comment, according to the report. The same can be said for CoinDesk editor-in-chief Kevin Reynolds and a spokesman for Justin Sun, neither of whom would confirm Fortune’s findings.

Additionally, sources claimed that CoinDesk’s editorial committee chairman, Matt Murray, resigned on Monday, December 16. However, Murray declined Fortune’s request for comment.

In November 2023, Bullish acquired CoinDesk from its previous parent company, Digital Currency Group. As previously reported by crypto.news, the acquisition raised concerns about CoinDesk’s advancement of editorial independence.

With the acquisition, former Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal, Matt Murray, was appointed Chairman of CoinDesk’s Editorial Committee.