MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is famous for his profoundly pro-Trump stance and his proclivity for loudly parroting Trump's rhetoric about the 2020 election being fraudulent.
Lindell held a “cyber symposium” in South Dakota in August of 2021 where he claimed that he would prove his claims of election interference by China with hard data.
He was so confident in this data that he offered $5 million to anyone who could prove that his data did not reflect election fraud, calling the challenge "Prove Mike Wrong."
Well, someone did "Prove Mike Wrong."
\u201cNew: Mike Lindell firm told to pay $5 million in \u2018Prove Mike Wrong\u2019 election-fraud challenge. \n\nMy first Post byline (!!!!!) w/ @emmersbrown @jonswaine \n\nhttps://t.co/1LwzKxMum8\u201d— Chris Dehghanpoor fka trapezoid of discovery (@Chris Dehghanpoor fka trapezoid of discovery) 1682001533
That proof was backed up by a private arbitration panel from the American Arbitration Association on Wednesday.
Computer forensics expert and electrical engineer Robert Zeidman accepted Lindell's challenge and proved his data not only didn't prove any election interference, but it had absolutely nothing to do with the 2020 election at all.
Arbitration records show Zeidman was the only expert to submit a claim for the challenge. Arbitrators ordered Lindell Management (the company that created the challenge) to pay Zeidman the $5 million within 30 days.
Arbitrators said Zeidman proved Lindell's data "unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data," and Lindell Management failing to pay him the $5 million was a breach of contract.
Their findings stated:
"Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract. He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data."
"Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prized was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover."
Twitter users took full advantage of the opportunity the decision presented to rag on Lindell.
\u201cA bitter pillow to swallow, but accepted unilateral contracts like this one must be enforced lest the law become a sham.\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1682000537
\u201cNot only did the computer forensic expert "Prove Mike Wrong," he showed that Lindell's claims contained \u201cno recognizable data in any known data format.\u201d \nThat pretty much sums up all the election denial claims. https://t.co/VARyezXLiv\u201d— Richard Stengel (@Richard Stengel) 1682082194
\u201cHAHA: Mike Lindell was just ordered to pay $5 MILLION to a guy who debunked his \u201cdata\u201d lies related to the 2020 election!\nThe best part - Lindell had announced his \u201cProve Mike Wrong Challenge\u201d \u2013 in which anyone who could prove his data was unrelated to the 2020 election could win\u2026\u201d— Jo \ud83c\udf3b (@Jo \ud83c\udf3b) 1682000115
\u201cIt is pretty funny that it was a Trump voter who attended Mike Lindell\u2019s cyber-symposium because he sincerely wanted to see the \u201cevidence\u201d who realized it was all bullshit and proved him wrong for the $5 million. One of their own.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1682074742
\u201cHAHAHA BREAKING: Remember when the Pillow Man offered people $5M to \u201cprove him wrong\u201d? Well, an arbitrator just ordered Lindell to pay $5M to an expert who proved him wrong. HAHAHAHA https://t.co/gSWMX5A9Y6\u201d— Mueller, She Wrote (@Mueller, She Wrote) 1682000046
\u201cBREAKING: Mike Lindell\u2019s bank account\u201d— Windsor Mann (@Windsor Mann) 1682006877
\u201c@stengel Enormous files of \u201crandom numbers and letters.\u201d Reminds me of Trump\u2019s empty binders at that press conference in 2016.\u201d— Richard Stengel (@Richard Stengel) 1682082194
\u201cDoes Mike Lindell have anyone in his life who loves him and is willing to tell him what he doesn't want to hear or is everyone in his orbit using him for his money?\u201d— David B. Larter (@David B. Larter) 1682009108
Some apparently pitied Lindell, though.
\u201cI never thought I'd feel bad for Mike Lindell. But I kind of feel bad for Mike Lindell. Because at least he believes his defamatory statements.\n\nhttps://t.co/DItcdfIL8Q\u201d— Jonathan V. Last (@Jonathan V. Last) 1682006743
Zeidman was "really happy" with the results of arbitration.
He told the Washington Post:
"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. The truth is finally out there."
Lindell, on the other hand, was very unsatisfied with the arbitrators' decision.
He told the Post:
"They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court!"
Whether Lindell can take the matter to court or not is not clear though.
The contest rules that were submitted to the arbitration panel stated any disputes would be "resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration," even noting arbitration is "subject to very limited review by courts."
