Mike Lindell, already a stark example of wealthy men who gave everything to Trump and lost it all, was found guilty of defaming a voting machine company employee and is on the hook for millions of dollars in compensation. Jurors had no problem reaching the verdict, though didn't award the $60m prosecutors called for.
The jury found that two of Lindell's statements about Eric Coomer, the former security and product strategy director at Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, including calling him a traitor, were defamatory. It ordered Lindell and his online media platform, formerly known as Frankspeech, to pay Coomer $2.3 million in damages, far less than the $62.7 million Coomer had asked for to help send a message to discourage attacks on election workers.
Lindell says he will appeal; he stuck to his conspiracy theories in court, but tried to distance himself from the specific claim that put him on the hook. Part of his defense was that the victim's reputation had already been destroyed by other pro-Trump figures before Lindell waded in. A key question for jurors, though, was whether the term "traitor" was an insult or, as they found, a false statement of fact.
Previously:
• Mike Lindell's must pay $5 million in 'Prove Mike Wrong' election-fraud challenge
• Mike Lindell blames it all on Satan
• MyPillow's $14.88 deal surely just a coincidence
• Mike Lindell tells voters not to vote early so 'we can overrun the algorithms'
• MyPillow founder Mike Lindell auctions off company equipment after massive product cancellation
