Grant Cardone, 67, the currently reigning Hustler-King of the Griftosphere, thought he had the last laugh. The Ninth Circuit just schooled the hustler.  Cardone is headed back to court in what could be a very damaging class action lawsuit. We predict Grant Cardone will need to take the 5th in deposition more than once. 

Did Grant Cardone’s online videos promising a 15% return as an inducement to invest in Cardone Capital constitute a form of solicitation to purchase securities? 

Grant Cardone said no.

The lower court agreed and dismissed the class action complaint in Pino v. Cardone.  In an important ruling for social media conduct handed down yesterday, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals disagreed and reversed the lower court’s decision. From the Ninth Circuit’s  ruling of June 10, 2025:

In its ruling, which is posted below, the Ninth Circuit reversed the lower court and said Pino had “alleged enough to support materiality at this juncture” to move forward to civil trial.

One of the matters at trial will be Cardone’s statements that he personally takes on the debt when he purchases an apartment building. This is a demonstrably misleading statement. As has been shown numerous times, Grant Cardone purchases properties with his own money. He thereafter, on an undisclosed basis, immediately resells these properties at a profit to his investors via Cardone Capital.

On the Cardone Capital side, Cardone as owner and manager, then takes an acquisition fee for selling a property to himself.  This undisclosed scamminess and self-dealing is apparently part of the Cardone DNA.

Grant Cardone concealed his financial sleight of hand which profited him personally while shifting the entire financial risk of his debt-heavy deals onto his unwitting investors, many of whom were unsophisticated Reg A investors. 

Reg A is also known as “crowdfunding” and was signed into law under President Obama to allow small business to raise money from non-accredited investors. In Red D offerings, investors must be accredited:  

An accredited investor is an individual or organization with significant financial resources, allowing them to invest in certain private securities offerings that are not available to the general public. These investors are typically considered financially sophisticated and require less regulatory protection.

A graphic showing the definition of an accredited investor: 

Our view is that Cardone cynically exploited the Obama-era crowdfunding law to exploit and lie to his social media followers, most of whom would likely not meet the requirements of  accredited investors, and used misleading and false statements to induce them to invest.

Grant Cardone bragged that he could get everyday people into the big deals normally reserved for the big institutional investors or the very wealthy.  What Cardone did not say is that his deals were debt-heavy, self-serving, and that a 150% rate of return over 10 years could not be guaranteed on this planet.

For a summation of the matter see our earlier article: Lincoln Lawyer Explains the Class Action Lawsuits Against Scientologist & Debt-Fueled Apartment-Buying Addict Grant Cardone. 

In the era of cheap money and low interest returns for investors, Cardone used low interest loans to purchase apartment buildings. He was out for stats and wanted to buy thousands of doors. He made extravagant promises online, including a 15% rate of return. These statements were misleading and fraudulent. This is proven by the fact that Cardone Capital’s prospectuses disclosed the risks of losing part, or all, of your investment.

Cardone’s hype on social media did not align with the fine print legal disclaimers. This the usual conduct of predators like Cardone. Indeed, his fellow Scientologist David Gentile is headed to prison for seven years for, among other things, falsifying statements to investors.