MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell “intentionally stoked the fires of xenophobia” by spreading bogus claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, voting machine company Smartmatic has claimed in a new lawsuit.
Mr Lindell used the attention gained from his farcical crusade to have Joe Biden’s election victory overturned for the “noble purpose of selling his pillows”, Smartmatic’s lawyers argued in a suit filed in a US District court in Minnesota this week.
“Crazy like a fox. Mike Lindell knows exactly what he is doing, and it is dangerous,” Smartmatic said in the filing.
“He knows the election was not rigged, fixed, or stolen. He knows voting machines did not switch votes from former President Trump to now President Biden,” it added.
Mr Lindell saw a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to promote election conspiracy theories knowing that he would be embraced by millions of unhappy Trump voters, the lawsuit said.
Among his false claims were that Smartmatic’s election technology, hardware, and software “were developed for the sole purpose of stealing foreign elections by switching votes”.
“Once a fixture on late night infomercials embracing his pillows, in early 2021, Mr Lindell’s infomercials turned to spreading disinformation about the 2020 US election,” the suit said, adding his message was “as dangerous as it was factually inaccurate”.
Smartmatic, which also named MyPillow as a defendant in the suit, is seeking unspecified damages.
In an interview with Insider, Mr Lindell said the lawsuit was “hilarious” because he had lost more than $80m (about £59m) after being dropped by retailers and shopping channels.
“They’re guilty. They’ve attacked us and were part of the biggest crime in history against our country. And they’re going to all go to prison,” Mr Lindell said.
Earlier this month Mr Lindell was ridiculed after he claimed he had enough evidence to “put everyone in prison for life, 300 and some million people”.
He is also being sued by Dominion Voting Machines for $1bn over his false claims that Mr Trump won the election.
