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Mike Lindell listens during an interview from the podium in the press briefing room of the White House, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
Under an avalanche of litigation, erstwhile bedding titan and stalwart election denialist Mike Lindell is something not entirely unlike broke, he told a federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Lindell currently owes $56,369 over frivolous claims in a failed lawsuit against voting software and hardware company Smartmatic Corp.
In the case, the underlying lawsuit was filed by Dominion Voting Systems, accusing Lindell and his once-profitable company, MyPillow, of slander over false claims about the 2020 election. Lindell then sued both voting companies and lost. Smartmatic, in turn, moved for sanctions. The court sided with Smartmatic in 2022, but it was not until the company prodded late last year for their award that the dollar amount was finally decided. On Jan. 13, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, a President Donald Trump appointee, substantially pared down Lindell’s liability and ordered him to pay the balance due.
Now, Lindell says he simply cannot pay what he owes.
“I’m in ruins,” the pro-Trump conspiracy theorist told the judge, through tears, according to a courtroom report by ABC News.
The hearing was necessitated by a Smartmatic motion last month to hold Lindell in civil contempt. Smartmatic claims Lindell is “violating the clear and unambiguous terms” of the order to pay.
“Smartmatic continues to wait to be made whole,” the company alleged. “Despite the Court’s clear and unambiguous ruling earlier this year that Lindell compensate Smartmatic for the fees it spent litigating Lindell’s frivolous claims, Lindell still has not paid, nor has he meaningfully engaged in any discussions or negotiations.”
A hodgepodge of excuses for continued nonpayment in hand, Lindell was able to convince Nichols to hold off on issuing a ruling until the court was able to inspect the defendant’s finances.
“Nobody will borrow me any more,” Lindell told the judge, according to a courtroom report by D.C.-based CBS affiliate WUSA. “Not one dime.”
One reason Lindell cited was a combined $70 million in debt. Another reason was garnishment by the Internal Revenue Service.
The great majority of that debt, Lindell claimed, was due to “lawfare” against him over self-described efforts to “secure the election.”
Pleading a kind of embarrassment known to the formerly wealthy, Lindell told the judge he now lives on $1,000 per week.
His assets, he said, were limited to two houses, which he was in the process of liquidating — and one truck. This, in Lindell’s estimation, amounted to “nothing.”
“I borrowed everything I can. Nobody will lend me any money anymore,” the pillow salesman told the court. “I can’t turn back time … but I will tell you, I don’t have any money.”
On the business side of things, Lindell claimed that formerly booming MyPillow was recently forced to fire hundreds of employees and had lost several warehouses since the 2020 election.
The sum of these financial difficulties combined, Lindell said, means he cannot even make $5,000 monthly payments to Smartmatic — an amount he proposed in a prior arrangement.
“I don’t have $5,000 or 5 cents,” the defendant said.
Nichols listened to the sad story and ultimately determined Lindell had made a “non-verifiable representation” of his financial status.
To that end, the defendant has until Friday to file, under seal, documents proving his purportedly dire financial straits.
Lindell, for his part, said he welcomed the opportunity to prove his relative poverty to both the court and Smartmatic.
“I have nothing to hide,” Lindell said.
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The Smartmatic sanctions are the tip of Lindell’s financial iceberg.
In a long-running lawsuit, Lindell Management LLC has been repeatedly rebuked by the courts for its refusal to pay $5 million to the winner of a “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge.
In March 2024, a Minnesota county judge ruled against MyPillow in an eviction hearing, finding that the company owed over $200,000 in unpaid rent for a warehouse in Shakopee.
Then, in January, a judge ordered MyPillow to pay $777,000 to a delivery company. Days later came the judge’s order in the Smartmatic case. Last month, a federal judge in another jurisdiction, in a related case, ordered Lindell to pay Smartmatic’s attorneys’ fees.
From the plaintiff’s perspective, in the past few months, various MyPillow-related corporate entities have sued a collection of merchant cash advance companies over allegedly usurious loans.