Pro-Trump MyPillow CEO sued for $1.3bn over election fraud claims

Mike Lindell consistently claimed election had been rigged ahead of insurrection

A voting systems company has filed a lawsuit against outspoken Donald Trump supporter and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell alleging that he has defamed them with false accusations of election fraud.

Dominion Voting Systems filed the suit against Mr Linell and his company seeking more than $1.3 bn (£1.15bn) in damages in the US District Court for the District of Columbia,The Wall Street Journal first reported.

The lawsuit alleges that Mr Lindell “knew there was no real ‘evidence’ supporting his claims” that “Dominion had stolen the 2020 election”, calling the accusations a “big lie”.

The filing alleges that Mr Lindell used false claims about Dominion Voting Systems to market his company, MyPillow, making reference to a number of public appearances and interviews given by the CEO.

“He is well aware of the independent audits and paper ballot recounts conclusively disproving the Big Lie,” the suit reads. “But Lindell... sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows.”

The Independent has contacted MyPillow for comment on the lawsuit.

Mr Lindell, also known as the MyPillow guy has been one of Mr Trump’s most public supporters over the last four years and has often promoted theories spread by the president and continued to insist the election was rigged ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Amid the violent insurrection at the US Capitol by pro-Trump supporters 6 January Mr Lindell called the events of the day “very peaceful” in an interview with Newsmax.

“There was probably some undercover Antifa that dressed as Trump people and did some damage to windows and got in there,” he added.

A number of federal and state government officials have confirmed that they have found no evidence votes in the 2020 presidential election were compromised in any way.

Despite around 50 lawsuits filed in several swing states lost by Mr Trump in an attempt to overturn the election, the Department of Justice also said in December that they had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the wake of the election.

Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states essential to Mr Biden’s victory, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states.

Last month, Dominion Voting Systems filed a similar defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani over similar claims that the company’s systems were rigged in favour of the Democrats.

The filing against Mr Giuliani is seeking damages of more than $1.3bn (£1.15bn) and is based on more than 50 statements made by Mr Giuliani on Twitter, his podcast, and in the media.

The former mayor of New York City described the lawsuit as “intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously.”

Mr Trump’s former lawyer Sidney Powell is also facing a similar suit from the company, which is one of the biggest voting machine manufacturers in the US.

Ms Powell has said that she didn’t publish any statement she knew was false and that she has credible evidence, The Journal reported.

The newspaper said that the voting company had sent letters to multiple media outlets and others that the attorneys allege spread false claims, seeking retractions or instructing them to preserve relevant records in case of potential litigation.

In December last year, Fox aired a series of unusual news packages debunking baseless claims of electoral fraud made on the network in the wake of a legal threat from another electronic voting company: Smartmatic.

Smartmatic accused the broadcaster in the letter of publishing “demonstrably false and defamatory” statements that the company helped flip the election for Mr Biden.

The company later filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against the broadcaster in February one of the largest libel suits ever undertaken, the Associated Press reported.