Dominion Voting Systems is seeking $1.3 billion in damages from Mike Lindell, alleging in a lawsuit filed Monday that the MyPillow Inc. CEO defamed the company with baseless claims of election fraud involving its voting machines.
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and also named Lindell’s Chaska, Minnesota-based company, alleged that Lindell “exploited” false claims about election fraud to support his company’s sales, The New York Times reported.
“Lindell – a talented salesman and former professional card counter – sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows,” Dominion stated in the filing, singling out MyPillow’s “defamatory marketing campaign” for using promotional codes such as “FightforTrump” and “QAnon” to boost sales by as much as 40%.
Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, arguing that Lindell has refused to stop repeating false claims that its voting machines were manipulated to rig the 2020 election against Trump. https://t.co/OacFhcZFfv
— Vicky Ward (@VickyPJWard) February 22, 2021
The complaint also cited myriad statements made by Lindell, including in media appearances, social media posts and in a two-hour film claiming to prove widespread election fraud, The Wall Street Journal reported, noting Lindell confirmed that he helped produce the film that was released online in early February.
“I’m very happy that they’ve done this,” Lindell told the Times in a Monday phone interview. “I’m ready to go to court. I have all the evidence that anyone would ever want to see.”
According to the Journal, the complaint alleged that Lindell made false claims about the integrity of Dominion’s voting machines and that he knew no credible evidence supported his claims that the company had rigged the 2020 election for President Joe Biden, referred to by Dominion as the “Big Lie.”
“(Lindell) is well aware of the independent audits and paper ballot recounts conclusively disproving the Big Lie,” the complaint stated. “But Lindell … sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows.”
Lindell’s unyielding support for former President Donald Trump and, specifically, unsubstantiated claims the CEO made following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, prompted severe backlash against the entrepreneur and motivated numerous high-profile retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s to sever ties with MyPillow, the Times reported.
Specifically, Dominion’s lawsuit accuses Lindell of repeatedly and falsely alleging that algorithms in Dominion’s voting machines had stolen votes from Trump, the Journal reported.
In a January interview with the Times, Lindell said he would “welcome” a legal challenge from Dominion after the company sent him a legal letter warning of pending litigation over his baseless claims involving their machines.
Mike Lindell, MyPillow's CEO, told me on Jan. 25: “Dominion threatened to sue me & I said bring it on, I want you to, I 100% want you to...they won’t do it, bc they know all the evidence will come out.” Dominion filed a defamation suit against him today. https://t.co/1hzEaIzDLh
— Sapna Maheshwari (@sapna) February 22, 2021
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