Former Miss Canada, Chealse Sophia Howell, Sues Grant Cardone for $500 Million in Defamation Case

By Jeffrey Augustine on February 3, 2026 • ( Leave a comment )

Dec 2025: Former Miss Canada Chealse Sophia Howell has filed a $500 million defamation lawsuit against multifamily real estate syndicator Grant Cardone and his company, Cardone Capital.

From the TMedia Partners press release:

MIAMI, Jan. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chealse Sophia Howell, a former Miss Canada titleholder, Miss Universe Canada delegate, international model, and entrepreneur, has filed a civil lawsuit according to court filings, in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, alleging defamation and tortious interference against Grant Cardone and Cardone Capital, LLC.

In the complaint, Ms. Howell alleges Grant Cardone engaged in a coordinated campaign to publish and disseminate false and damaging statements about her across widely viewed social media platforms, including Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and Facebook. The lawsuit asserts that these statements falsely accused Ms. Howell of serious criminal conduct, including human trafficking in the Middle East, allegations she denies.

The complaint further alleges the statements were amplified to millions of viewers through the defendants’ substantial social media reach and marketing platforms, allegedly resulting in significant and irreparable harm to Ms. Howell’s personal and professional reputation. Ms. Howell further claims that the alleged conduct caused the loss of business opportunities, endorsement relationships, and professional contracts, as well as severe emotional distress and concerns for her personal safety and well-being.

From the RealDeal:

Cardone allegedly told his 10 million-plus social media followers that Howell was involved “in a clandestine or illegal operation in the Middle East.” Cardone allegedly implied her talent agency is “essentially masquerading as a dating site for Americans and Canadians being peddled to the Middle East,” the complaint states…

In the defamation lawsuit, Howell alleged that an “eerie, weird vibe surrounded” the Regalia Residences condo unit, and that “strange, cultlike individuals surrounded” the Cardones.

A text thread between Howell and Elena Cardone allegedly shows how their relationship unraveled. In a text sent on Jan. 26, 2024, and included in Howell’s complaint, Elena Cardone allegedly said, “My husband’s gonna make you famous.”

Grant Cardone posted a malicious and threatening note online in which he offered a $10,000 reward for information on the location Sophia Chealse Howell. This is cyberstalking:

In our view, this shows malice aforethought and and Cardone’s intent to intimidate or terrify Howell using interstate electronic communication.

A) Grant Cardone could have easily instructed his lawyer to hire a PI to get this information which is easy to find — and to keep it confidential if it was needed for service of summons. Aside from service of summons, why would Cardone need Howell’s private information? Why would Cardone seek to publicly invade Howell’s privacy? Offering a public bounty in the US for a person’s private information via interstate electronic communication very likely crosses a line into a criminal act.

B) Cardone has 10 million followers. By posting this, he is broadcasting an implied threat by electronic and interstate means that his followers will pursue Sophia Howell in order to collect Cardone’s $10,000 bounty.

Intent matters: The legality of Cardone’s post depends heavily on intent and effect:

Did Cardone’s post:

Encourage third parties to aggressively pursue someone? Yes it did as is shown in the replies.
Attempting to locate someone against their will? Yes it did as is shown in the replies.
Trying to incite others to act in hostile or threatening ways? Based on the replies from Cardone’s followers it did.

Could a prosecutor could charge Cardone with a criminal offense? Possibly. Cardone’s post was an interstate electronic transmission that offered a bounty, which bounty acted as an inducement for Cardone’s followers to violate Howell’s privacy and endanger her person in pursuit of Cardone’s $10,000 bounty.

18 U.S.C. § 2261A – Interstate Stalking / Cyberstalking. This statute makes it a crime to use electronic communications to:

“harass, intimidate, or put another person in fear of death or serious bodily injury,”
including conduct that causes substantial emotional distress.

text excerpt (emphasis added):

Whoever —

(1) with the intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate another person, uses …
an interactive computer service … to engage in a course of conduct that causes substantial emotional distress to that person and serves no legitimate purpose…shall be punished …

Cardone’s online message will not go well in front of jury, particularly when Cardone is asked on cross examination why he needed Ms. Howell’s private information and physical location? Cardone would also be asked about offering a $10,000 bounty to induce his followers and the public to track down Howell. Cardone made an unconditional “no questions asked” $10,000.

The optics of this is that Grant Cardone is a dangerous and potentially violent Scientology thug. Ms. Howell has good reasons to feel terrified by Cardone’s actions.

What kind of man would post threats of implied violence against a woman online? Someone doing that is signaling hostility, insecurity, and a desire to intimidate—not strength or confidence.

Men who post implied threats of violence toward women online tend to share some common patterns (not diagnoses; just behavioral signals):

Need for Power or Control

Anger Externalized

Low Emotional Regulation

Performative Aggression

Online threats are frequently performative; they are designed to shock, scare, or impress an audience. Intimidation itself is the goal.