Mike Lindell is known for touting his MyPillow product. He is also known for pushing election fraud theories.
On Wednesday, a federal judge agreed that Lindell would have to pay $5 million to Robert Zeidman, a software engineer who disputed Lindell’s theory that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden, according to the Associated Press.
Lindell created the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge” in August 2021 and promised a big prize.
“Lindell offered a $5 million reward through Lindell Management for anyone who could prove that “packet captures” and other data he released there were not valid data “from the November 2020 election,” the AP reported.
Zeidman submitted a 15-page report, stating the data from Lindell don’t “contain packet data of any kind and do not contain any information related to the November 2020 election.”
After a panel of judges did not name Zeidman, he appealed. Now, Lindell vows to appeal this latest ruling.
“Of course we’re going to appeal it. This guy doesn’t have a dime coming,” Lindell said, noting the ruling as against his company, Lindell Management LLC, and not against him, according to the AP.
“A panel of three arbitrators last April unanimously ordered Lindell to pay Zeidman $5 million, concluding that he had satisfied the contest rules,” the AP reported. “In Wednesday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim expressed concern about how the panel interpreted what he called a “poorly written contract,” but said courts have only limited authority to overrule arbitration awards. He ordered Lindell to pay up with interest within 30 days.”