Judge orders MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to pay $5M to man who debunked election claims

Mike Lindell must pay $5 million to a software engineer who debunked data that the MyPillow CEO claimed proved that China interfered with the 2020 election, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim made the decision Wednesday, according to court records.

"Plaintiff is awarded $5 million plus post-judgment interest beginning April 19, 2023," court documents show.

Lindell plans to appeal the judge's decision, the Associated Press reported. When asked if he could dole out the millions, he pointed out that the breach-of-contract suit was against Lindell Management LLC, and not him personally, the outlet said.

“Of course we’re going to appeal it. This guy doesn’t have a dime coming,” Lindell said, according to the AP.

Money problems: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he's out of money, can't pay lawyers in defamation case

'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge' gone wrong

Robert Zeidman, founder of Zeidman Consulting, won arbitration against Lindell after unsuccessfully contesting him at a “cyber symposium” event where the executive issued the challenge Aug. 10, 2021 to guests that involved debunking the 2020 election data he provided, according to court records.

Zeidman took Lindell up on the "Prove Mike Wrong Challenge" and provided a 15-page report that said the data the MyPillow CEO provided lacked information and real-time data from the internet, court documents show.

“The data Lindell provides, and represents reflects information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally does not contain packet data of any kind and do not contain any information related to the November 2020 election," according to court records.

Zeidman told CNN that Lindell's data "was just so obviously bogus" and he said "it surprised me."

Three arbitrators unanimously determined last April that Lindell would have to pay Zeidman the $5 million. During Tunheim's ruling Wednesday, he called Lindell's contract for the challenge "poorly written," CNN reported.

Lindell involved in other lawsuits

Lindell is also wrapped up in a $1.3 billion defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems in the District of Columbia that says the executive falsely accused the voting machine company of impacting the 2020 election, court documents show. Smartmatic, a different voting machine company, also filed a defamation suit against Lindell.

Lindell admitted that MyPillow is experiencing financial struggles, the AP reported.

Fox News, one of the company's biggest advertising platforms, halted the showing of MyPillow commercials in January due to a payment dispute, the outlet said. Lindell also said he owed lawyers representing him in his lawsuits millions of dollars.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Lindell must pay $5M to 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge' winner