Karen#1
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[Grant Cardone licking a gold brick, and John Legere in the inset]
You’ve probably heard some of the details about a high-stakes court fight that’s been going on in Miami between energetic motivational speaker and major Scientology donor Grant Cardone, and former T-Mobile US CEO John Legere.
We’ve been observing Cardone for more than a decade. He first got on our radar in 2011 when he starred briefly in a National Geographic series called Turnaround King, that had him giving advice to struggling business owners. More recently he was featured in the Discovery Plus series Undercover Billionaire. And descriptions of him usually note that he manages a real estate portfolio worth about $4 billion.
In Scientology, Grant and his wife Elena have achieved the donor level of “Diamond Laureate” for giving about $15 million to the International Association of Scientologists, the church’s membership organization. They’ve likely given millions more in other ways to the church.
In the $100 million defamation lawsuit against Legere that Cardone filed in January, he claimed that at one time the two of them were pretty tight: Two high-flying, high-visibility business figures each with massive social media followings.
But then, around 2021, after Legere had expressed an interest in Cardone’s “10X Health” initiatives, Legere became critical of Cardone, and began confronting him with ugly public accusations in online settings.
By 2023, things had become so bad, Legere went on an extended verbal attack on Cardone in a live, public chat room that June (referred to as “the exchange” in the lawsuit), taking numerous rather vicious jabs at him.
“[Legere'] attacked Plaintiff Grant Cardone's businesses, character, reputation, and religious beliefs," the lawsuit says.
"Grant, you are the biggest bullshit artist on the planet, OK?" Legere said at the beginning of the exchange.
Legere cited Cardone's admitted history as a recovering drug addict, and asked him if he also had a drinking problem. He called Cardone a "con man" and predicted that within a year Cardone would be found "guilty of fraud," and called him a "fake" and said he'd never do business with him.
Then came this back-and-forth:
Legere: By the way, he's not a billionaire. He doesn't have close to a billion. And he is, somebody here, he somebody who is self-promoting. And if you go to the world, go to the world of CNBC, go to CNN, go to the world, ask about Grant Cardone. He doesn't exist.
Cardone: How do you, how do you know what I'm worth, John?
Legere: How do I know what you're spending under-the-radar to live your lifestyle?
Cardone: How do you know where my money comes from? How do you? You don't know anything about me financially. Just admit that, John.
Legere: So how much you paying to the church, Grant?"
Cardone: What, John, what does that matter?
Legere: How much you paying to the church?
Cardone: John, what do you know about me financially? You just said, you just made a bunch of claims about, I'm...
Legere: What I know, Grant, is that you say all the time you're a billionaire, that you have four billion. So, you know, in real estate, do you, are you a billionaire?
Cardone: John, what do you know about my financial...?
Legere: Here's your chance. Here's your chance Grant. Are you a billionaire?
Cardone: I don't need a chance with you. You're the one that...
Legere: Are you a billionaire? Tell the group. Hey, hey, Grant, your profile says you're a billionaire. Are you a billionaire?
Cardone: John, I'm not gonna even answer your questions right now.
Legere: Are you? Are you close? Let the group know that a very simple statement, is Grant Cardone a billionaire, yes or no? He won't answer.
Cardone: Well, it would be hard for me to state that. I don't know I could state publicly and it not be true without having banks come back and say, ‘Bro, what are you doing?’
Legere: So, you know what the answer is? Grant, you're not. Assets versus debt with market at seven percent mortgage rates. How you doing?
Cardone: John, I'm doing great. How, how do you know?
Legere: You say it all the time. You're a billionaire. You say it all the time, but you're not, and you won't say it.
And so it goes, for even more back-and-forth, with Legere also asking Cardone if his “church” would come after him for criticizing Cardone, a reference to Scientology’s reputation for retaliation.
Read more
Grant Cardone sues for being called not a billionaire, but his own emails suggest it
You’ve probably heard some of the details about a high-stakes court fight that’s been going on in Miami between energetic motivational speaker and major Scientology donor Grant Cardone, and former T-Mobile US CEO John Legere.
tonyortega.substack.com
