My Pillow's Mike Lindell ordered to pay $5 million to software expert who debunked election claims

The panel said the My Pillow CEO would have to pay after the expert, a two-time Trump voter, was able to successfully prove that Lindell's data had no relation to Chinese election interference.

By Madeleine Hubbard

Published: April 20, 2023 3:30pm

My Pillow CEO and founder Mike Lindell has been ordered by an arbitration panel to pay $5 million to a software forensics expert who debunked claims that China interfered in the 2020 presidential election in a "Prove Mike Wrong" contest.

Lindell presented the challenge in 2021 at a South Dakota "cyber symposium," in which he said he had data that would support his claims that China interfered in the election and he offered the prize to anyone who could demonstrate the data was not connected, The New York Times reported.

The American Arbitration Association panel said Wednesday that the My Pillow CEO would have to pay after the expert, two-time Trump voter Robert Zeidman, was able to successfully prove that the data had no relation to Chinese election interference.

"A false narrative about election fraud is just really damaging to this country," Zeidman said Thursday. He filed the arbitration claim in November 2021 after the organizers of the contest rejected his analysis.