Friday, 4 June 2021

Mike Lindell's lawyers said Dominion and Smartmatic's 'conspiracy' against him is set to cost the MyPillow CEO more than $2 billion

Mike Lindell
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell waits outside the West Wing of the White House on January 15, 2021 in Washington, DC.
  • Mike Lindell's new lawsuit accused Dominion and Smartmatic of damaging his finances and reputation.
  • Lawyers for the MyPillow CEO said he is set to lose $2 billion as a result.
  • Lindell sued both voting-machine companies Thursday, accusing them of enabling voter fraud.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Mike Lindell stands to lose more than $2 billion after voting-machine companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic engaged in a "conspiracy and enterprise to harm him," according to a lawsuit the MyPillow CEO filed Thursday.

As well as financial damage, Lindell also received death threats because of the "cancel culture" the two companies created, the filing said.

Lindell is in a legal battle with both companies after he spread debunked claims that Dominion and Smartmatic "flipped" votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election.

Read more: The MyPillow guy says God helped him beat a crack addiction to build a multimillion-dollar empire. Now his religious devotion to Trump threatens to bring it all crashing down.

Dominion sued Lindell in February for $1.3 billion. Lindell then countersued and filed a separate lawsuit from MyPillow in April for $1.6 billion, claiming Dominion was trying to stifle free speech.

Lindell then filed another separate lawsuit against both Dominion and Smartmatic Thursday, outlining his conspiracy theory positing that their machines enabled voter fraud.

The 82-page lawsuit included quotes from William Shakespeare and the dystopian novels "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984."

In a section titled "Shut Up Or Else," Lindell's lawyers said Dominion was trying to silence anyone who might make election-fraud claims, "in cohoots with Smartmatic."

In its lawsuit in February, Dominion named both Lindell and MyPillow as defendants.

"MyPillow made no statements about Dominion," Lindell's lawyers wrote in Thursday's filing. "Instead, by suing MyPillow, Dominion seeks to punish Lindell for his statements by damaging his reputation, his finances, and his business."

As well as MyPillow and Lindell, Dominion has also filed defamation lawsuits against pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, Trump's now-former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Fox News.

"This campaign of lawfare is intended to stifle any and all public debate about the reliability of the election results, whether such speech is related to Dominion or not," Lindell's lawyers wrote.

They added that Lindell was "publicly vilified as a liar, conspiracy theorist, and purveyor of 'basless [sic]' or 'false' information regarding the 2020 election" because of Dominion and Smartmatic's actions, and added that he had received threats from the public.

"Lindell is a victim of this conspiracy and enterprise by Dominion and Smartmatic to attempt to silence him by abusing the litigation process," the lawyers wrote.

The filing said Lindell had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending himself against Dominion's $1.3 billion lawsuit.

Retailers including Costco, Kroger, and Kohl's have also pulled his products, and some customers have threatened to boycott the brand.

"Lindell is entitled to recover his actual and special damages from for their collective role in their conspiracy and enterprise to harm him - damages which presently are estimated to exceed $2 billion," the filing said.

Dominion and Smartmatic did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider


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