MyPillow Founder Will Not Pay Winnings for Election Challenge, Court Rules

[ificandream]

Source: New York Times


By Ali Watkins
July 24, 2025, 11:49 a.m. ET

A federal appeals court has ruled that Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder, does not have to pay out $5 million to a software developer who had entered a challenge held by Mr. Lindell inviting skeptics to disprove his claims of interference in the 2020 presidential election.

An arbitration panel had previously ordered Mr. Lindell to pay the $5 million to Robert Zeidman, a software developer who entered Mr. Lindell’s “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge, which offered a $5 million reward to anyone who could debunk what Mr. Lindell called evidence of Chinese interference in the 2020 election.

The ruling, issued by an appeals court in Minnesota on Wednesday, signals the end of a yearslong back and forth between Mr. Lindell and Mr. Zeidman, whose battle over the Challenge reward grafts directly from Mr. Lindell’s yearslong, baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald J. Trump.

“It’s a great day for our country,” Mr. Lindell said in an interview.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/us/elections/mypillow-founder-challenge-winnings.html

[Turbineguy]

1. Yes, any time you can go back on your promise

is a great day for the whole fucking country.

[Jimvanhise]

2. SO CONTEST RULES DON'T MEAN ANYTHING?

It is illegal to offer a prize and then not pay up. This makes no sense.

[JoseBalow]

5. I'll give a million doll hairs to anyone who can prove that's true

[Bengus81]

6. Yeah...couldn't Powerball do the same? Mega Millions?

[Bengus81]

3. Like he has the money anyway. That POS is broke and I hope he dies that way too.

[TheRickles]

4. Was it up to Lindell to determine whether it was a full debunk or not?

The NYT is behind a paywall, so I can't check for details, but I'm sure there was a loophole. Similar to The Amazing Randi never having to pay out the $1M prize for a genuine demonstrations of psychic phenomena, because he got to set all the criteria.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. From an archive:

The crux of Mr. Zeidman’s evidence was that Mr. Lindell’s supposed proof of election interference did not include voting machines’ packet capture data, which refers to a unique signature on original data that is transferred from a specific place and time.

However, in a ruling published on Wednesday, a panel of federal appeals judges found that, because Mr. Lindell’s rules for the challenge were written broadly, the evidence Mr. Zeidman presented debunking Mr. Lindell’s claims was not unequivocal.

“From the four corners of the Challenge contract as defined by the Official Rules, there is no way to read ‘information related to the November 2020 election’ as meaning only information that is packet capture data,” the ruling said.

https://archive.ph/wZYfM

I don't know if that helps; I can't be bothered to find Lindell's idiotic game "rules".

[TheRickles]

9. Thanks. Sounds a little iffy on both sides.

[appmanga]

10. So that's why Randi never had to pay?

Hmm, okay.

[Hieronymus Phact]

11. Yeah Really!

Glad someone said something!
I thought that was a cheap shot at the Amazing Randi.

[TheRickles]

13. Randi's attempts to debunk parapsychology have come under a lot of criticism from serious researchers.

Here is a good critique, with a section part way through on his million dollar challenge:
https://mitch-horowitz-nyc.medium.com/the-man-who-destroyed-skepticism-be35a6e5c5e4
"There is more to heaven and earth, Horatio..."

[VeryProgressive]

15. Article you provided is bunk

That's it. That's the headline. Serious researchers? LOL.

[appmanga]

16. "Serious researchers" of the paranormal...

...hits me like "serious scholars of Flat Earth". I love this excerpt:

Another case was Randi’s yearly “million-dollar challenge,” often held in Las Vegas, in which he tempted psychics with a cash prize. For years it was an annual charade to which virtually no serious observer or claimant would venture near.

If the discovery or claim stands up to the scientific method, it's proven. If such a thing could be demonstrated during Randi's lifetime, he would have suffered for not holding to his word and made into Randi stew.

And you can't "debunk" what's not true; you can debunk the claim and expose the lie. There's no debunking something that hasn't been proved to have happened.

[TheRickles]

17. Here are some FAQs from the Parapsychological Association

https://www.parapsych.org/section/36/frequently_asked_questions.aspx

Perhaps it's hard to believe, but an international group of several hundred psychologists, psychiatrists, physicists and other scientists are applying the scientific method to these unusual experiences. Check out the journal to see what sort of research projects are ongoing before you dismiss it all out of hand.

[TheRickles]

18. Here's the link to a downloadable Special Issue of the Journal of Parapsycholgy

https://www.parapsych.org/articles/17/477/free_special_issue_of_the_journal.aspx

[VeryProgressive]

14. What?

There was never a genuine demonstration of psychic phenomena. That's why the Amazing Randi never had to pay up. Please don't equate these completely different things.

[Marthe48]

8. He's no gentleman

You can't take his word.

Dishonorable

[oasis]

12. Lindell remains a joke and is still going broke.

So, there’s that.

[BurnDoubt]

19. I Gotta Puke.