In 2019, we found out that Grant Cardone, professional ham hock, had pulled in a big crowd at Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre.
This was a big deal, because these days, Scientology never has big crowds outside of its planned and stage-managed annual big events like LRH Birthday and New Year’s Eve. Oldtimers will remember a time when missions and orgs were jampacked with the curious learning their TRs and adjusting the tone arms on their E-meters. But David Miscavige’s “Ideal Org” program that began in 2003, with new cathedrals going up in dozens of cities around the world, just hasn’t brought in the kinds of curious new people that he claims it does.
So it was startling to see a jam-packed auditorium at CC for Cardone, who, love him or hate him, has a massive presence on social media and can draw a huge audience with his get-rich schtick.
And we’ve also noted that he’s become less and less shy about name-checking Scientology in his talks.
In that 2019 article we asked, “Is Grant Cardone the answer to what ails Scientology? Can he repeat this success on a larger scale, and is that something [church leader David] Miscavige can convince him to do more often?”
Some of the former Scientology executives we asked that question told us that if Miscavige didn’t use Cardone more often to bring in new people, it might be because Dave feels threatened by someone else proving to be so popular.
And over the last three years, we haven’t seen another sign of Cardone being used this way by Scientology.
Until this weekend.
As the video above shows, Cardone this time filled the auditorium at the Fort Harrison Hotel, centerpiece of Scientology’s “spiritual mecca” the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida.
And we’d love to hear from anyone who can fill us in on details about the event. Was there regging involved? Was it a pep talk for the L Rundowns, Super Power, or Solo NOTs? (This was Flag, after all, where these upper-level experiences are on offer, not a place for Scientology beginners.)
It’s been a while since we heard from Cardone, but in that time he’s had a litigation setback.
Here’s Jeffrey Augustine, who has been keeping a close eye on Cardone’s fortunes in court…
On December 21 the Ninth Circuit ruled against Cardone, restoring a class action lawsuit in Los Angeles filed by an investor named Luis Pino.
Cardone had convinced a lower court that the wide social media promotion of his Cardone Capital funds did not target specific individuals, and so neither he or his company acted as “statutory” sellers.
Pino asked the Ninth Circuit to rule that Cardone was, in fact, engaging in solicitation of investors and was a statutory seller.
"Through their social media engagement, Cardone and Cardone Capital were significant participants in the selling transaction because they disseminated material information to would-be investors," the court ruled.
With the lawsuit restored other investors can join it, and Cardone can’t say he didn’t solicit them with his “10X” online hype.
Thank you for that update, Jeffrey.
Now, will David Miscavige continue to use Cardone to fill seats at his orgs?
We’re curious.
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Grant Cardone at Flag: Again, Scientology turns to its professional ham hock to fill seats