Mike Lindell, the CEO and founder of MyPillow, must pay $5 million to the winner of a contest that was based on claims of Trump’s alleged fraudulence related to the 2020 presidential election. Lindell attempted to back out of having to pay the contest winner for debunking the false claims that the bedding company owner made. However, that attempt has reportedly failed.
Details About The ‘Prove Mike Wrong Challenge’
Lindell launched a contest back in 2021 known as the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.” The challenge was based on Mike’s previous claims that China interfered with the 2020 election.
Mike decided to start the contest to provide a $5 million prize to anyone that could successfully disprove his claims. He was confident that the data he had to support his claims about China was undeniably accurate.
The ‘Challenge’ Was Won By A Software Engineer
Robert Zeidman, a longtime software engineer, used his IT knowledge and data analysis expertise to essentially win the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.” He was able to successfully debunk the conspiracy theories supported by Mike Lindell regarding the 2020 presidential election.
The data in question was collected during a multi-day “Cyber Symposium” based in South Dakota. Zeidman concluded that the data had nothing to do with the results of the 2020 election results.
Zeidman Created A 15-Page Report To Debunk Liddell’s Claims
Robert Zeidman, who is also a software developer, created a 15-page report that documented his finding, analysis and overall conclusion regarding Mike Liddell’s claims. His report showed that Lindell’s data was incomplete.
Zeidman’s report further questioned the notion of how it was collected. The IT expert concluded that there was no way that the data was collected online in real-time.
Zeidman Claims Liddell’s Data Was ‘A Table Full Of Gibberish‘
Zeidman, a self-proclaimed Trump supporter, highlighted the quality of the data itself in his remarks. In his opinion, the data provided during the symposium offered nothing of value at all.
He claimed that it was just “pages and pages of numbers.” He added that there were even some instances where it was just a “table full of gibberish.” He further described it as something that just “sat there for hours and just typed random stuff into a word processor.”
Zeidman Did Not Expect Lindell To Pay The Money
Despite the initial ruling, Zeidman made it known that he did not expect Mike Lindell to pay him the money owed right away. He predicted that “Lindell will delay it as long as he can.”
Robert took it a step further by predicting that Lindell would also lose in the cases filed against him by Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, which were the voting machine companies. Zeidman commented that he thought “that will put him out of business for good.” He had previously filed for arbitration related to the contest rules when Lindell first went on record with his refusal to pay the award money. A panel consisting of three separate arbitrators unanimously agreed that Lindell needed to pay Zeidman the $5 million award after concluding that the contest rules were satisfied.
Zeidman Said, ‘Lindell Is Hurting Trump’ More Than Helping Him
During an April 2023 interview, Zeidman argued that “Lindell is hurting Trump much more than he’s helping him.” The computer expert further claimed that everything Lindell presented was “so obviously bogus” that it made any conversations about voter integrity or voter fraud “look silly.”
Zeidman even stated that “big Trump supporters thanked me” for the role he played in debunking Lindell’s claims. Others had reportedly sent Zeidman congratulatory messages after he won the challenge as well.
Federal Judge Affirms $5 Million Arbitration Against Lindell
A federal judge made it clear on Wednesday that the $5 million reward should be given to Zeidman. Lindell confirmed his plans to appeal the judge’s decision.
Lindell initially expected the federal judge to rule in favor of the MyPillow executive instead of Zeidman. He wanted the judge to wipe away the $5 million reward initially promised by the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge” and was surprised by the decision.
Judge Tunheim Was Concerned About Interpretation Of ‘Poorly Written Contract‘
US District Judge John Tunheim referenced the quality and condition of the contract in question during his ruling on Wednesday. Tunheim stated that there was concern regarding how the “poorly written contract” was interpreted by the panel.
However, Tunheim added that the court does not have very much authority when it comes to the overruling of arbitration awards. He then ordered that Mike Lindell pay the $5 million award with interest added to the amount within 30 days.
Lindell Claims That Zeidman ‘Doesn’t Have A Dime Coming‘
Lindell was asked by reporters if he could afford to pay the $5 million award. Lindell responded indirectly by highlighting that the breach-of-contract lawsuit was filed against his company Lindell Management, LLC and not him personally.
After confirming his plans to appeal the decision, he further expressed that Zeidman “doesn’t have a dime coming.” The $5 million reward was originally offered through Lindell Management to anyone that could prove the related data and “packet captures” were invalid.
Dominion Voting Systems Filed $1.3 Billion Suit Against Lindell
As referenced by Zeidman, Dominion Voting Systems already filed a $1.3 billion defamation suit against Mike Lindell as well. The company claimed that Lindell made false accusations against the company related to the alleged rigging of the 2020 presidential election.
Smartmatic, another voting machine company, has filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Lindell for the same reason. The ruling related to the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge” will more than likely be considered in both of those cases and could possibly prove Mike wrong again.
