A binding arbitration panel has ordered Mike Lindell to pay $5 million to a cybersecurity expert who proved that Lindell's evidence that China interfered in the 2020 Presidential election was bogus. The winner of the prize is Robert Zeidman, a 63-year-old computer forensics expert who says he voted for Trump in the two most recent elections.
According to The Washington Post, Zeidman attended Lindell's three-day symposium, where Lindell promised to reveal proof that the election was stolen. "There's a $5 million prize for anybody that can prove the election data that I have from the 2020 election was false, is not from the 2020 election," Lindell said in an interview before the event.
After examining the data, which Zeidman received as text and PDF files, he determined that one file was a flow chart describing the election process. Another was a list of internet IP addresses, and "others were enormous files of what appeared to Zeidman to be random numbers and letters," reports The Washington Post.
Zeidman submitted a 15-page report to Lindell's organization, which said, "I have proven that the data Lindell provides… unequivocally does not contain packet data of any kind and does not contain any information related to the November 2020 election," he wrote. Lindell's organization rejected the claim.
The rules of the contest stated that disputes would be "resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration." It also said arbitration "is subject to very limited review by courts."
In the arbitration hearing, Zeidman's lawyer said the data Lindell offered at the symposium contained "no recognizable data in any known data format."
Despite the ruling, Lindell said he won't pay the promised $5 million.
When The Washington Post reached out to Lindell for comment, he texted: "They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court!"
Lindell has been a vocal supporter of the false claim that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump through massive voter fraud, despite no evidence to support this claim. He has faced significant backlash and legal problems due to his continued promotion of these unfounded allegations. In addition to being ordered to pay $5 million to Zeidman for promoting false information about the election, Lindell is also facing a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which alleges that Lindell spread false conspiracy theories about their voting machines being used to rig the election. Lindell has repeatedly refused to retract his claims or apologize, and has vowed to continue fighting the legal battles against him.
