The legal challenges facing MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell have escalated, with a recent federal jury finding him liable for defamation and a Denver judge sanctioning his attorneys for submitting an AI-generated court motion filled with fabricated legal citations.
On June 16, 2025, a federal jury in Colorado ordered Lindell to pay $2.3 million to Eric Coomer, the former security and product strategy director at Dominion Voting Systems. The verdict came after Lindell falsely accused Coomer of conspiring to rig the 2020 presidential election. Coomer’s lawsuit highlighted that Lindell’s baseless claims had severely tarnished his reputation and led to “frequent credible death threats.” Coomer’s attorney, Charles Cain, expressed satisfaction with the verdict, stating it offered vindication for individuals targeted by such accusations and hoped it would serve as a deterrent. Lindell, however, praised the jury for not finding his company, Lindell TV, liable and vowed to appeal the decision, claiming he was in financial debt, according to the BBC.
Adding to Lindell’s legal setbacks, a federal judge in Denver sanctioned two of his attorneys on July 7, 2025, for filing an AI-generated court document that contained numerous errors. Judge Nina Y. Wang of the U.S. District Court in Denver ordered Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster to each pay $3,000 for violating court rules. The motion, filed during Lindell’s defamation case, was found to contain nearly 30 faulty citations, referencing non-existent legal cases and misrepresenting principles of law. Even a revised version of the filing submitted by the attorneys still contained significant errors.
Judge Wang’s ruling, described as scathing by Livemint, noted that the attorneys’ explanations of an “inadvertent error” were unconvincing due to contradictory statements and a lack of corroborating evidence. While Kachouroff admitted to using AI tools, his subsequent responses were deemed “puzzlingly defiant” by the judge. Judge Wang emphasized that the sanctions were a measured response, stating, “This Court derives no joy from sanctioning attorneys who appear before it,” and that the penalty was “the least severe adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance.” MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell himself was not penalized, as Kachouroff informed the court that Lindell had no knowledge of his attorneys’ use of AI tools in preparing the documents.
These recent developments are part of a broader pattern of legal and financial difficulties for Lindell. In February 2024, a U.S. District Court confirmed an arbitration award of $5 million against Lindell to software developer Robert Zeidman. This stemmed from Lindell’s “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge, where he offered the sum to anyone who could disprove his data on alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election; Zeidman successfully demonstrated the data was not authentic. Lindell also faces ongoing defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, with a federal court having dismissed his counterclaims and ruled he would be liable for Smartmatic’s attorney’s fees.
The financial strain on Lindell and MyPillow has become increasingly apparent. In October 2023, Lindell’s legal firm indicated in a court filing that he owed them millions of dollars in fees and that they could no longer afford to represent him. Lindell himself has publicly stated, “We’ve lost everything, every dime. All of it is gone.” Furthermore, several major retailers, including Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond, have stopped carrying MyPillow products, citing market research and low customer demand, alongside Lindell’s controversial election claims.
The recent jury verdict and the sanctions against his legal team underscore the significant consequences of spreading unverified claims and the growing scrutiny on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in professional fields like law. Lindell’s ongoing legal battles continue to draw attention to the broader implications of election misinformation and the accountability of those who propagate it.
