Washington
CNN
—
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell has been ordered to shell out $5 million to an expert who debunked his data related to the 2020 election, according to an arbitration panel decision obtained by CNN.
Lindell, a purveyor of election conspiracies, has promised to pay a multimillion-dollar sum to any cyber security expert who can disprove his data. An arbitration panel awarded Robert Zeidman, who has decades of software development experience, a $5 million settlement Wednesday after he sued Lindell for the amount.
CNN obtained arbitration documents and video depositions, including Lindell’s deposition, related to the dispute.
“Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under contract,” the arbitration panel wrote in its decision. “He verified the data provided by Lindell LLC, and represented the indicated information from the November 2020 election, without doubt did not reflect the November 2020 election data. The failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million amount is a breach of contract, which entitles him to rescission.”
The decision marks another blow to the MyPillow CEO’s credibility after he publicly made unproven claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Lindell also faces defamation charges related to his election claims.
“The lawsuit and verdict mark another important moment in the ongoing proof that the 2020 election is legal and valid, and the role of cybersecurity in ensuring that integrity,” said Brian Glasser, founder of Bailey & Glasser, LLP, representing Zeidman. “Lindell’s claim to have 2020 election data is completely disproved.”
In a brief telephone interview with CNN, Lindell said “this will end up in court” and criticized the media and acknowledged the need to remove electronic voting machines.
Lindell has convened a so-called “cyber symposium” in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2021, designed to showcase data he claims was obtained related to the 2020 election. He invited journalists, politicians and cybersecurity experts to attend.
“The symposium was to get a large audience and there was all the media there and then they – the cyber guys – said yes this is data from the 2020 election and you better look at how they get into the our machines, our computers, and that’s the whole purpose,” Lindell said in a deposition obtained by CNN.
He also announced a “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge” – where anyone who can prove his data has nothing to do with the 2020 election could win a multimillion payout – to gain more media traction for his claims. – claim of election fraud.
“I thought, what if I put a $5 million challenge out there, then it would get news, which it did,” Lindell said in the deposition. “So, you’re getting attention.”
Zeidman signed up for the challenge, agreed to its contractual terms and discovered that Lindell’s data was largely irrelevant.
While Lindell made various outlandish and unproven claims about the 2020 election, such as insisting foreign governments infiltrated voting machines, it was explained- Well, the arbitration panel’s ruling focused only on whether the data provided by Lindell to the experts was relevant to the 2020 election.
“The Contest does not require the participants to deny election interference. Thus, the task of the participants is to prove that the data presented to them is not valid data from the November 2020 elections,” the panel wrote in arbitration.
“The Panel was not asked to decide whether China interfered in the 2020 election. Nor was the Panel asked to decide whether Lindell LLC had data proving such interference, or even whether Lindell LLC had election data disseminated belongs to it,” according to the arbitration panel. “The focus of the decision is on the 11 files provided to Mr. Zeidman in the context of the Contest rules.”
The panel’s decision examined each of the data files provided by Zeidman, which repeatedly determined that the data was not relevant to the 2020 election.
It’s unclear when or if Zeidman will collect his payment. Lindell recently told right-wing podcaster and former Trump administration official Steve Bannon that his company took out nearly $10 million in loans while he was fighting defamation lawsuits related to his false claims in the election.
During his deposition, Lindell said he wasn’t worried about anyone winning the challenge.
“No, because they have to show it’s not from 2020 and it is,” Lindell said, chuckling.