Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, had made a public offer of a $5 million reward to anyone who could prove him wrong about his claims of election fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
He had called this challenge “Prove Mike Wrong” and claimed to have data that showed China’s interference in the election. However, a Nevada man named Robert Zeidman analyzed the data provided by Lindell’s company and found that it did not match up with Lindell’s claims.
Zeidman took the matter to arbitrators when Lindell’s company allegedly refused to pay him the reward. The American Arbitration Association reviewed the case and ruled that Zeidman had indeed disproved Lindell’s election fraud claim. They ordered Lindell’s company to pay Zeidman the $5 million reward within 30 days.
The ruling indicates that the data provided by Lindell’s company, which included PDFs and text files, did not reflect information related to the November 2020 election. The challenge rules instructed participants to prove that the data provided did not relate to the election, and Zeidman was successful in doing so. The ruling also states that Lindell’s company, Lindell LLC, was obligated to pay the reward as promised.
The ruling is significant because it shows that Lindell’s claims of election fraud, which he has promoted widely and often on conservative media outlets, have been found to be false by an independent arbitration group.
“They clearly saw this as I did — that the data we were given at the symposium was not at all what Mr. Lindell said it was,” Zeidman told WaPo.
“This was obviously manufactured bogus data,” Zeidman added, still noting he is a “right-wing conservative” who cast a vote for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
“They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court!” Lindell said via a text to The Post.
featured image: Gage Skidmore