Jury finds MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell liable for defamation, orders him to pay $2.3M in damages

Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow and one of the most prominent conspiracy theorists about the 2020 presidential election, defamed a former Dominion Voting Systems executive when he called him “treasonous,” a federal jury in Denver concluded Monday.

The jury ruled that Lindell and his media company, Frankspeech, must pay $2.3 million in damages for his attacks on Eric Coomer, the former director of security for Denver-based Dominion. The jury found that three of the 10 cited attacks leveled by Lindell or published on his platform amounted to defamation.

Coomer sued Lindell in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in April 2022. He alleged the MyPillow CEO, a prominent backer of President Donald Trump and the president’s false claims that he won the 2020 election, defamed him when he called him a traitor, and claimed to have proof — in effect, directly accusing Coomer of committing a crime.

Coomer said Lindell’s attacks led to severe emotional and physical distress, death threats and the loss of his career in election security. Coomer had asked for more than $2 million in economic damages and another $60 million in non-economic and punitive damages.

Charles J. Cain, one of Coomer’s attorneys, said after the verdict that there were “mixed emotions in the sense that he’s been through a lot, and he’s still going to be looking over his shoulder even after this one.”

He added that he hopes the jury’s findings serve as a deterrent against election workers being targeted, but acknowledged, “We don’t believe this will stop the conspiracy theories.”

Lindell, in a scrum with media after the verdict, called the lawsuit “lawfare” and pledged to appeal. He emphasized that the jury found several of the statements in the case were not defamatory and that his most prominent company, MyPillow, was found not guilty of defamation.

“It’s a huge breakthrough about free speech and my First Amendment right,” Lindell said.

He also said he didn’t plan to stop commenting on election security.

“I will not stop talking until we don’t have voting machines in this country,” Lindell said.

During closing arguments last week, Lindell’s attorneys rebutted the defamation claim by saying Lindell believed the allegations he was making, and that it was protected speech under the First Amendment. Defense attorney Jennifer DeMaster accused Coomer and his attorneys of acting as a “ministry of truth” that sought to police criticism.

“The only thing that matters is if Mr. Lindell believes these things are true,” DeMaster said during closing arguments. “That is the crux. That is the only thing that matters when it comes to our beloved First Amendment.”

Cain countered that Lindell stepped further than criticism of the government with his specific claims that Coomer committed treason and that he had evidence of such crimes.