U.S. News

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Avoids $5M Payout for Election Conspiracy Prize

By Jake Beardslee · July 25, 2025

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell will not have to pay a $5 million prize tied to his widely criticized “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The ruling reverses a 2023 arbitration panel’s decision that had favored software developer Robert Zeidman, who claimed to have successfully disproven Lindell’s allegations of Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election.

In 2021, Lindell launched the contest, pledging $5 million to anyone who could debunk his assertion that China had manipulated the vote to help Joe Biden win. Zeidman submitted a 15-page analysis arguing that Lindell’s so-called data did not support the claims. Though contest judges initially rejected Zeidman’s entry, he pursued legal action and won an arbitration ruling two years later. The panel determined Zeidman had indeed disproven the data, and awarded him the prize.

However, the appeals court concluded this week that the contest’s terms were too vaguely defined to establish a clear winner. The decision relieves Lindell of the financial obligation, even as he continues to face mounting legal challenges. Just last month, a judge ordered him to pay $2.3 million to a former Dominion Voting Systems employee who won a defamation suit related to Lindell’s repeated election claims.