Partner split: Grant Cardone and Gary Brecka swap charges in dueling lawsuits

Image shows Gary Brecka and Grant Cardone in happier days. — Former business partners Gary Brecka and Grant Cardone are fighting it out in court.

By John Hilton

A series of recent court filings and decisions provide some clarity to dueling lawsuits between social media stars and former business partners Grant Cardone and Gary Brecka.

Brecka and his wife Sage Workinger filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida against Elena Cardone, wife of Grant Cardone. A second lawsuit alleges a breach of contract related to an employment dismissal.

Brecka and Workinger filed their state lawsuits the day after Christmas. That same day, Cardone Ventures filed a federal lawsuit against Brecka and Workinger. All involved are popular social media personalities who joined forces in 10X Health System, a wellness company that uses data-driven strategies to improve human health and longevity.

Earlier this month, Elena Cardone filed a motion to dismiss the Brecka/Workinger lawsuit, calling it "nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to inappropriately shape the public narrative around Plaintiffs’ failed business relationships with 10X Health Ventures."

The Brecka/Workinger lawsuit fails to state a defamation claim, Elena Cardone says, and lacks many essential documents to back up its accusations.

"This Complaint appears to be nothing more than a way for Plaintiffs to harass Cardone," the motion concludes.

Coombs contact cited

Grant Cardone is a multi-millionaire author, private equity fund manager and real estate investor who owns Cardone Ventures with his wife. The Cardones joined Brecka and Workinger and investor Brandon Dawson to found 10X Health.

Brecka and Workinger allege "an intentional smear campaign designed to damage Brecka's reputation, including making false incendiary social media posts and nefarious public statements."

The allegation references a November video clip of Brecka and Sean "Diddy" Coombs, a prior 10X Health client, that Elena Cardone shared with her more than 688,000 Instagram followers. She made the comment after Brecka and Workinger left 10X Health and added the comment, "boy bye!" the lawsuit claims.

In her motion to dismiss, Elena Cardone notes that "Workinger herself published the content first alluding to the 'relationship' between the Plaintiffs and Mr. Combs." Workinger added that the couple has "no connections to [Sean Combs] beyond helping him for a short time on his health journey with 10X Health” through her comment on the Instagram post, the motion adds.

Cardone declined to post a comment on Workinger’s Combs comment and then deleted the Instagram post, the motion says.

Lawsuit to continue

In their initial lawsuit, Cardone Ventures alleged that Brecka and Workinger engaged in trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of Florida law. In addition to trademark protections and damages, the Cardone lawsuit asked the court for "clawback of the tens of millions of dollars paid to Brecka and Workinger."

Among allegations in the lawsuit, Cardone claims Brecka was "siphoning business to his daughter Madison Brecka and her limited liability company to service 10X Health clientele and potential clientele," and misappropriated and redirected other 10X Health contacts, resources and clients or potential clients.

Likewise, Cardone claims Brecka sold competing products under the “Ultimate Human” brand, and infringed upon a registered trademark owned by a medical doctor introduced to him by 10X Health.

Cardone and Dawson fired Brecka from 10X Health on Nov. 5, 2024.

Since some of the claims in Cardone's initial lawsuit overlap with claims Brecka makes in his lawsuit, Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga ordered the parties to show cause why a stay should not be granted. In response, Cardone Ventures filed an amended complaint Feb. 6 limiting their claims to federal trademark infringement, unfair competition, and cancellation of trademark registration.

The amended lawsuit also names only Ultimate Human as the defendant.

"Defendant will likely seek to excuse its predatory behavior through a series of after-the-fact justifications," the new complaint states. "Those flimsy excuses wither in the face of the undisputed facts, which include Defendant’s usurpation of the mark from a medical practice introduced to Defendant by Cardone Ventures."

Brecka refers to himself as "a renowned biohacker and longevity expert" with over two decades of experience in analyzing human biomarkers, including as a mortality-modeling expert in the insurance industry.

Brecka had been the president and managing principal of Life Asset Group (LAG), located in Miami Beach, FL. LAG dealt exclusively in the life settlement market, primarily in a brokerage capacity. Previously, he was the founder of a broker-dealership.

He left the insurance industry to pursue other health opportunities, and in 2017 partnered with Workinger to start the health and wellness companies Streamline Medical Group Naples and Streamline Wellness.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.