OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
11:53 AM – Wednesday, July 23, 2025
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, overturning a $5 million arbitration award to a software developer who had claimed victory in a contest challenging Lindell’s assertions of foreign interference in the 2020 election.
On Wednesday, a three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the arbitration panel had overstepped its authority by modifying clear and unambiguous terms of the contest agreement in order to grant the award in a unanimous decision.
“Fair or not, agreed-to contract terms may not be modified by the panel or by this court,” U.S. Circuit Judge James Loken wrote in the 12-page decision.
Lindell initially lost in court in the first round, but Wednesday’s appellate ruling effectively releases him from liability—unless further judicial review is pursued.
In 2021, Mike Lindell hosted a “Cyber Symposium” in South Dakota, presenting data that he said clearly demonstrated Chinese interference in former Democrat President Biden’s 2020 election victory. As part of the event, Lindell offered a $5 million reward to anyone who could prove the data was “unequivocally” unrelated to the 2020 election.
Soon after, software developer Robert Zeidman entered the contest and submitted a 15-page report where he claimed to show evidence of lack of validity regarding Lindell’s data. However, the contest’s judges had already determined that Zeidman was not entitled to the prize. Pursuant to the contest’s rules, Zeidman initiated arbitration to resolve the dispute.
Following a hearing, the arbitration panel ruled in Zeidman’s favor, claiming that he had successfully demonstrated Lindell failed to provide packet capture data—commonly known as PCAP files—and thus had allegedly proven the data was not related to the 2020 election.
“We conclude that the panel effectively amended the unambiguous Challenge contract when it used extrinsic evidence to require that the data provided was packet capture data, thereby violating established principles of Minnesota contract law and our arbitration precedents,” Loken wrote in the opinion.
Nonetheless, the most recent ruling now directs the lower court to promptly vacate the $5 million arbitration award or, alternatively, to undertake further proceedings consistent with the appellate court’s reversal.
Brian Glasser, counsel for Zeidman, stood by the arbitration panel’s decision when asked for comment — according to The Hill.
“Your readers can judge for themselves if the Eight Circuit’s decision today is more persuasive, or rings in truth louder, than the unanimous contrary decision of three arbitrators who heard all the evidence, including one appointed by Mr. Lindell,” Glasser stated in an email.
Last month, a Colorado jury ordered Mike Lindell to pay $2.3 million in damages to a former Dominion Voting Systems employee who sued him for defamation.
“Before those would ever even get to trial, you’re going to see [what] the ‘big win’ will be, as you watch me melting down these machines and turning them into prison bars. That’s my big win,” Lindell said.
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