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Mike Lindell Just Got Sued for $1.3 Billion Over Election Conspiracies

The CEO of MyPillow said he was “very, very happy” about the lawsuit.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell waits outside the West Wing of the White House before entering on January 15, 2021 in Washington, DC.

A spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems said last month that Mike Lindell was “begging to be sued, and at some point, we may well oblige him.” This week, they did just that. 

Dominion, the voting machine company at the center of baseless election fraud claims by supporters of former President Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit against the MyPillow CEO and his company on Monday for more than $1.3 billion. In a 115-page complaint filed in D.C. federal court, Dominion alleges that Lindell’s conspiracy claims are not the result of an earnest belief in election fraud, but a ploy to sell pillows. 

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“Lindell—a talented salesman and former professional card counter—sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows,” the complaint reads.

Dominion alleges that Lindell’s “defamatory marketing campaign” has increased MyPillow sales by up to 40 percent, and Lindell’s campaign is “redirecting their election-lie outrage into pillow purchase.” 

It goes on to accuse Lindell of exposing Dominion to “the most extreme hatred and contempt,” adding that his statements “were calculated to—and did in fact—provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm.” In December, a harassment campaign organized by followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory resulted in death threats against one Dominion contractor in Georgia, including a noose left outside his family’s home. 

MyPillow did not immediately respond to VICE News’ request for comment, but Lindell told the Wall Street Journal that he was “very, very happy” about the lawsuit.

“I have all the evidence on them,” he said. “Now this will get disclosed faster, all the machine fraud and the attack on our country.”

In a whirlwind of media appearances starting after the November election, including a two-hour infomercial-style movie called “Absolute Proof,” Lindell promoted and repeated baseless  claims alleging federal and state elections officials, Democratic and Republican politicians, voting technology companies, and the governments of countries including China and Venezuela all working in concert to cheat Trump out of his re-election victory. 

Despite Lindell’s efforts, there has been zero credible evidence offered to corroborate his claims that Dominion engaged in any election fraud. Federal and state elections officials have said there’s no evidence voting machines were tampered with. 

Lindell is the third major figure involved in spreading accusations of election fraud to be sued by Dominion. The company has already filed lawsuits against Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and “Kraken” attorney Sidney Powell for $1.3 billion each, alleging defamation. Voting technology company Smartmatic also sued Giuliani, Powell, Fox News, and multiple hosts of Fox shows including Lou Dobbs, for $2.7 billion earlier this month. 

Few of them, however, have been as welcoming to prospect of legal action as Lindell. Lou Dobbs, one of the Fox News hosts named in the lawsuit, had his show canceled just one day after the lawsuit was filed, though Fox News has denied the cancellation had anything to do with the lawsuit

And earlier this month, Dominion said in a court filing that it was forced to hire private investigators to track Powell across state lines so they could serve her with notices of legal action.