Mike Lindell’s lawsuits and MyPillow’s financial collapse have converged into a single, unfolding crisis: the MyPillow founder faces active defamation litigation from Smartmatic seeking $1.5 billion, a confirmed $2.3 million jury verdict for a former Dominion employee, a civil contempt order fining him $500 a day, an $8.8 million default judgment against his company from FedEx, and a shrinking business that has lost its major retail partners and turned to triple-digit-interest cash advance lenders to keep operating. Dominion’s own $1.3 billion case against him settled confidentially in June 2026. Lindell has told a federal judge he is “in ruins,” though he continues to fund a campaign for governor of Minnesota.
The Defamation Cases That Started It All
Three defamation suits arising from Lindell’s promotion of false 2020 election claims account for the bulk of his legal exposure. They are at different stages.
Dominion: Settled
Dominion Voting Systems sued Lindell for $1.3 billion in 2021. The company was sold in October 2025 to a St. Louis-based firm founded by Scott Leiendecker and renamed Liberty Vote, and on June 25, 2026, the parties filed to dismiss the lawsuit under a confidential settlement. Both sides bear their own attorney’s fees; no other terms were disclosed.1CBS News Minnesota. Mike Lindell Dominion Voting Defamation Lawsuit Dropped Lindell called the outcome a “big relief” and said it clears the way for his gubernatorial campaign.2Star Tribune. Dominion Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Mike Lindell
Smartmatic: Liability Established, Damages Pending
Smartmatic sued Lindell and MyPillow in federal court in Minnesota in 2022, alleging he spread false claims that its machines flipped votes from Trump to Biden.3GovInfo. Smartmatic USA Corp. v. Lindell, 22-cv-0098 In September 2025, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled Lindell defamed Smartmatic, identifying 51 specific false statements and writing that “no reasonable trier of fact could find that any of the statements at issue are true.”4MPR News. Judge Rules MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell Defamed Smartmatic The question of actual malice, and the amount of damages, is left for a jury. Smartmatic is seeking $1.5 billion. No trial date has been set.5Star Tribune. Smartmatic Defamation Ruling Against Mike Lindell
Eric Coomer: Verdict Upheld
Eric Coomer, a former Dominion security director, sued Lindell, MyPillow, and Lindell’s media network in 2022 after Lindell accused him of rigging the election. In June 2025, a Colorado federal jury awarded Coomer $2.3 million against Lindell personally and $2.7 million against FrankSpeech, declining to add punitive damages.6BBC News. Mike Lindell Found Liable for Defamation of Eric Coomer In March 2026, U.S. District Judge Nina Wang denied the defense’s motion to overturn the verdict and denied Coomer’s request to raise damages to $60 million.7Courthouse News Service. Judge Denies Motion to Overturn Jury Verdict in Election Fraud Defamation Case
Contempt, Sanctions, and “In Ruins”
Lindell was ordered in January 2025 to pay Smartmatic $56,369 in sanctions for making claims the court deemed frivolous. He did not pay. In April 2025, he told Judge Carl Nichols in Washington he was “in ruins,” had “borrowed everything I can,” owed millions to the IRS over a COVID-era employee retention credit, and was liquidating his two remaining houses. Nichols called the statements “non-verifiable” and ordered financial documentation filed under seal.8ABC News. Mike Lindell Tells Judge He’s ‘In Ruins’
In April 2026, a federal judge held Lindell in civil contempt over the unpaid sanction and imposed a $500-per-day fine for every day he failed to pay. The judge noted that Lindell had continued paying legal fees in other cases and that his gubernatorial campaign had recently spent $187,000 on his autobiography.9KYMA. Mike Lindell Held in Civil Contempt for Non-Payment Despite his repeated claims of insolvency, Lindell has said he has no plans to file for personal or corporate bankruptcy.10NBC Washington. MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell Says He’s Out of Money
The $5 Million “Prove Mike Wrong” Challenge
At his 2021 Cyber Symposium, Lindell offered $5 million to anyone who could show his election data was not proof of hacking. Software forensics expert Robert Zeidman took the challenge, concluded the 23 gigabytes of data were fabricated, and won an arbitration award for the full $5 million, which a federal district court confirmed. In July 2025, the Eighth Circuit reversed, holding the arbitration panel had exceeded its authority by reading a requirement into the contest rules that was not in the contract.11U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. Robert Zeidman v. Lindell Management LLC, No. 24-1608 The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case in January 2026, ending the matter in Lindell’s favor.12Court Listener. Robert Zeidman v. Lindell Management LLC Docket
MyPillow’s Financial Collapse
MyPillow has not filed for bankruptcy. Its financial condition has nonetheless deteriorated sharply. After Lindell’s election fraud advocacy, Walmart, Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, and Wayfair all dropped the brand. The company shifted to direct sales, but revenue has not kept up with legal bills and operating costs.13Minnesota Reformer. MyPillow Is Getting Evicted From a Warehouse
The workforce is down. MyPillow employed roughly 1,300 people in late 2023, off from a peak of 1,600, and Lindell has reported hundreds of layoffs since. The company was evicted from a secondary Shakopee, Minnesota warehouse in 2024 over more than $200,000 in unpaid rent, though Lindell said the facility was no longer in use. American Express cut MyPillow’s credit line from $1 million to $100,000 in September 2023.13Minnesota Reformer. MyPillow Is Getting Evicted From a Warehouse
High-Interest Cash Advances
In 2024, MyPillow turned to merchant cash advance lenders. The company borrowed $1.6 million from Cobalt Funding Solutions at what it later alleged was a 409% annual interest rate. Two other lenders, Lifetime Funding and Shine Capital Group, sued MyPillow in October 2024 for defaulting on advances of $600,000 and $2 million. MyPillow countersued, calling the loans usurious and illegal.14Fortune. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Sues Merchant Cash Advance Firm
FedEx
FedEx sued MyPillow and Lindell personally for unpaid shipping debts. A default judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee found MyPillow liable for about $8.8 million and Lindell personally liable for about $2.7 million. FedEx alleged Lindell made “false promises” to keep shipping on credit. As of April 2026, FedEx said it had not collected any of the money.15Law & Crime. Fed Up FedEx Comes to Collect Millions From Mike Lindell
Supplier Dispute
In January 2026, MyPillow sued its slippers supplier, ACI International, alleging the California-based company had placed curbs on MyPillow’s Amazon sales account over a claimed $15 million debt. MyPillow’s attorneys argued the supplier’s actions threatened to force the company out of business.16MPR News. MyPillow Cites Probe Into Mike Lindell’s Election Denialism in Case Against Slipper Supplier
Personal Debts Beyond the Business
Lindell’s personal financial picture goes beyond MyPillow’s balance sheet. In October 2023, he told reporters MyPillow had “lost hundreds of millions of dollars” and that his only remaining assets were his house and his truck. His attorneys at Parker Daniels Kibort moved to withdraw from several of his lawsuits, citing millions in unpaid legal fees.10NBC Washington. MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell Says He’s Out of Money
A November 2025 lawsuit filed by far-right podcaster Joe Oltmann and Michelle Klann alleges Lindell breached a $3 million loan agreement from August 2023 and stopped making required daily payments of $10,300 under a settlement. The plaintiffs are seeking repayment, transfer of collateral properties in Minnesota and Texas, and attorney fees.17Colorado Newsline. Far-Right Colorado Podcaster Sues Mike Lindell Over Unpaid $3 Million Loan
The FBI Investigation and the Mesa County Breach
In September 2022, FBI agents seized Lindell’s cellphone at a Hardee’s drive-through in Mankato, Minnesota. The seizure was part of a federal investigation into an alleged scheme to breach voting system technology in Mesa County, Colorado, where former county clerk Tina Peters allowed an outside expert affiliated with Lindell to copy the county’s Dominion server during a 2021 software update. Peters later appeared onstage at Lindell’s Cyber Symposium.18PBS NewsHour. Mike Lindell, MyPillow Chief Executive, Says FBI Agents Seized His Phone MyPillow’s later court filings identified the probe as “Arctic Frost,” begun in 2022, with investigators seeking banking records related to wire transfers.16MPR News. MyPillow Cites Probe Into Mike Lindell’s Election Denialism in Case Against Slipper Supplier
Lindell challenged the phone seizure. The Eighth Circuit ruled against him and called his litigation a tactic to interfere with a criminal investigation. The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in April 2024.19The Seattle Times. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Election Denier Mike Lindell’s Challenge Over FBI Seizure of Cellphone Peters was convicted by a Mesa County jury in 2024 and sentenced to nine years; Colorado Governor Jared Polis commuted her sentence in May 2026, and she was released on June 1, 2026.20Spectrum News. Tina Peters, Colorado Elections Clerk, Released From Prison No criminal charges have been publicly reported against Lindell in connection with the investigation.
Where Things Stand
Lindell announced a run for governor of Minnesota in December 2025. He has said he cannot self-fund and has cited his legal debts. His campaign’s first weeks included nearly $190,000 spent on copies of his autobiography in lieu of traditional campaign materials.21Minnesota Reformer. Mike Lindell’s Campaign for Governor Is Buying Boatloads of Autobiographies He finished third at the May 30, 2026 Minnesota Republican state convention with 21.4% of delegates, and is proceeding to an August 11 primary against House Speaker Lisa Demuth and army veteran Kendall Qualls after the party released candidates from their endorsement pledges over reported convention irregularities.22MPR News. House Speaker Lisa Demuth to Run in GOP Primary for Governor
The Smartmatic damages trial and the Coomer appeal remain the largest unresolved pieces of legal exposure. The FedEx judgment is on the books but uncollected. MyPillow continues to operate. Lindell continues to say he is broke.