Legal issues
Cardone Training Technologies
In 2015 and 2016, several former employees of Cardone Training Technologies filed
religious discrimination complaints with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that they were fired for refusing to take
Scientology training courses disingenuously renamed as "
L. Ron Hubbard training".
[9]
Cardone's company has sued several clients who could no longer afford the hefty monthly payments on their training contracts. Having no
termination clauses, clients were sued for tens of thousands of dollars of remaining balances on their contracts.
[2]
Cardone Capital
Cardone Capital purchases and manages large quantities of
multifamily rental properties and sells shares in the
pooled investment. Cardone Capital's funds have a buy-in as low as $1,000.
[7] In 2024 Cardone Capital claimed to have approximately four billion dollars in
assets under management.
[10] Using his social media and other communication channels, Cardone tells potential investors that they should view "their own houses as a money-sinking liability rather than a real estate asset", that they should rent, and invest their money in his funds, which he has guaranteed 15% annualized returns. The
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned him to moderate his sales pitches.
[7]
In 2020, a client sued Grant Cardone and Cardone Capital, LLC for violating SEC regulations regarding potential misstatements or omissions. The lawsuit, a putative class action, cited Cardone's own words: "You're gonna walk away with a 15% annualized return. If I'm in that deal for 10 years, you're gonna earn 150%. You can tell the SEC that's what I said it would be. They call me Uncle G and some people call me Nostradamus, because I'm predicting the future, dude; this is what's gonna happen." A
Federal District Court in California dismissed the plaintiff's claims, saying that statements on social media were not actionable under the
Securities Act, but the
US Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal, stating that "sellers of securities that use social media communications to communicate with prospective investors are engaged in solicitation that can be actionable under the Securities Act".
[2][11][12] An
amended complaint was filed in 2023 by a family member of the plaintiff who had died since the original filing.
[7]
Paul Pelletier, who was the
Department of Justice's most senior fraud prosecutor during a 25-year career at the agency, reviewed the documents in the class action case against Cardone. "It looks like his business is built on lies and deception that will likely collapse leaving investors holding an empty bag," he said.
—
BuzzFeed News[2]
A 2022 investigative report by
The Palm Beach Post showed that from 2018 to 2021 Cardone Capital-owned
Miami-area apartment complex Wellington Club overcharged tenants for
workforce housing — a government program to provide discounted housing in high-cost-of-living areas to renters employed in key industries such as nursing, teaching and firefighting who would otherwise be priced out of their service area. According to the report, this allowed Wellington Club to boost profits while suppressing the county's workforce housing program in a county with limited
affordable housing.
[13][14]
Others
On a 2023
livestream, Cardone got in a heated dispute with former
T-Mobile CEO
John Legere who told him that "You are the biggest bullshyt artist on the planet," called him "a con man of the highest order" and a "fukking fraud."
[15] In January 2024, Cardone sued Legere for $100 million, alleging
defamation.
[16][17] In August, Cardone rejected an offer from Legere to settle out of court,
[18] and the parties agreed to a confidential settlement in January 2025.
[19]
In 2024 Cardone sued
Formula One Group and
Hard Rock Cafe alleging that his expensive watch had been stolen during a
Miami Grand Prix event as a result of lax security.
[20]
In 2025 a Las Vegas woman was charged with stealing millions from seven influencers including $2.3 million from the Cardones.
[21]