MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, recently introduced a bankruptcy lawyer onto his team, but not for the expected reasons. Lindell is fighting a financial battle as a number of major retailers have discontinued carrying his products. However, the addition of lawyer, Thomas Miller, is not aimed at tackling these financial troubles. Instead, the legal expertise of Thoman Miller, a renowned bankruptcy lawyer from Wayzata, Minnesota, has been sought for an appeal proceeding at the 8th Circuit Court.
Lindell’s appeal pertains to an arbitration ruling linked to an incident that took place in August of 2021. Lindell, a vocal critic of the 2020 US Presidential election results, offered a sum of $5 million to anyone able to disprove his allegations of a rigged electoral system. Software developer Robert Zeidman took him up on this challenge, demonstrating that the data Lindell presented as evidence of election fraud held no actual voter data. However, Lindell refused to pay the promised sum, leading Zeidman to seek justice through arbitration.
The arbitration panel, comprising of three judges, unanimously sided with Zeidman, yet Lindell still refused to honor his $5 million pledge. This dispute led the parties to the District Court of Minnesota, where Judge John Tunheim affirmed the binding nature of the arbitration award. Despite expressing personal disagreement with the arbitrators’ decision, Judge Tunheim stated the law does not permit a court to override an arbitrator’s decision. As a result, he ordered Lindell to pay the long-delayed $5 million with added interest ruling.
Simultaneously this week, Lindell’s legal representatives, Andrew Parker, and Alec Beck, withdrew from the arbitration case. This removal is significant, given the significant legal complications Lindell has been dealing with recently. The situation also highlights the recent defection of various legal counselors from the Minnesota firm Parker, Daniels, Kibort, which has stopped representing Lindell in defamation cases tied to his election fraud claims document.
As Lindell ventures into the appeal process in the 8th Circuit, with potential consequences, Miller’s extended legal expertise beyond bankruptcy might be beneficial.
Read the official cases here: