Judge Unveils Contempt Order Details as Mike Lindell Faces Financial Scrutiny in Smartmatic Case

A fortnight after approving Smartmatic’s request to hold MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in civil contempt for failing to pay imposed sanctions, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. has largely revealed his rationale.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Donald Trump, clarified his decision to grant the voting machine company nearly all it sought, including a $500 daily penalty until the 2020 election conspiracy advocate settles the $56,369 debt entirely and in one go. This penalty was scheduled to take effect on Wednesday if Lindell’s pattern of “noncompliance” persisted, as anticipated by the judge’s March 24 order, which was publicly filed on Tuesday. The order highlights these details.

Nichols pointed out that Lindell was instructed to make the payment back in January 2025, over a year ago. Instead of using his $14.8 million in assets to comply, Lindell claimed a “negative $18.7 million” net worth. He also used $187,037.87 from Minnesota gubernatorial campaign funds to purchase his own book, “What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO,” from his company, MyPillow Inc., merely to distribute them for free.

The judge emphasized, “Lindell’s decision to prioritize spending on other legal matters over this one—despite those occurring after the court’s order to compensate Smartmatic for his frivolous counterclaims—does not justify his failure to pay here.” Nichols added a footnote criticizing Lindell’s inability to justify why the sanction should be seen as less important than his other debts.

“Given the evidence that Lindell had the means to pay the sanction when imposed and still receives income from various channels, he has not fulfilled his obligation to provide evidence supporting his noncompliance,” Nichols stated, commending Smartmatic for easily presenting “clear and convincing evidence” of Lindell’s breach of the court order.

As evidence that Lindell knew he had to follow the order, Nichols cited the pillow mogul’s own words when he represented, “If I had the ability to pay, I would do so immediately.”

“Although Lindell provides documents purporting to prove that he currently has a negative net worth and that My Pillow is losing money, those documents are insufficient to establish that he ‘lacked the financial ability to comply’ in light of contrary evidence in the record,” the judge summed up. “Several pieces of unrebutted evidence illustrate that Lindell has paid for legal services in other proceedings since the Court entered the sanction order against him.”

Smartmatic long argued that Lindell had the funds to pay but he simply chose not to out of “disregard for this Court’s orders, rather than genuine financial hardship,” and Nichols agreed.

Read the order in full here.