Draft:Grant Cardone

Grant Cardone (born 21 March 1958) is an American businessman, real estate mogul, author, sales expert, motivational speaker and writer. Cardone is the founder and CEO of Cardone Capital, a real estate investment and management firm based in Aventura, Florida.

Early life
Cardone was born on 21 March 1958 in Lake Charles, Louisiana to Concetta Neil and Curtis Louis Cardone, both of whom were children to Italian immigrants who came to the United States in the early 1900s. When Cardone was 10-years-old, his father Curtis Louis, died, leaving him and his siblings to be raised by his mother on a small life insurance settlement that his father had allegedly left behind. Cardone also struggled with drug addiction and substance abuse beginning in his teen years. Cardone attended McNeese State University in Louisiana, graduating in 1981 with an accounting degree.

Legal issues
In 2015 and 2016, several employees filed EEOC complaints against Cardone Training Technologies, Inc. after being fired for refusing to take Scientology training courses under the name "L. Ron Hubbard training".

Cardone's company has sued several clients who could no longer afford the hefty monthly payments on their training contracts. Having no termination clauses, the clients were sued for tens of thousands of remaining balance on the contract.

A report showed that from 2018 to 2021, a Cardone Capital-owned Miami-area apartment complex overcharged tenants for workforce housing — rental units which have been contracted with a government program to provide discounted housing to renters employed in key industries such as nurses, teachers and firefighters who would otherwise be priced out of the area.

In 2020, a client sued Grant Cardone and Cardone Capital, LLC for violating U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulations regarding potential misstatements or omissions. The lawsuit, a putative class action, had 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 had 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. The plaintiff's attorney said it was important to hold 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."

"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."

Personal life
Cardone married Elena on July 4, 2004. They have two daughters, Sabrina and Scarlett. The Cardones reside in Golden Beach, Florida and Malibu, California. Cardone is a Scientologist who has reached the OT VIII level.