Mike Lindell Faces Potential Court Hearing Over Dire Financial Situation

Mike Lindell may face a court hearing over his ability to pay legal costs to voting machine company Smartmatic.

Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, faces defamation cases brought by voting machine manufacturers Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic and Eric Coomer, a former Dominion employee. The manufacturers have said Lindell's unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump significantly damaged their reputations. Claims of electoral fraud have been repeatedly rejected in court and by independent election experts.

Lindell submitted counterclaims against Dominion and Smartmatic but the court dismissed them in 2022 and ordered Lindell to pay some of the fees Smartmatic had incurred by defending itself.

In a court filing submitted on Tuesday, Smartmatic requested a status hearing in the next 30 days expressing concern that because of Lindell's financial situation, they may not recuperate these costs. The court has not yet ruled on Smartmatic's fee petition.

It said that because law firms representing Lindell said in October that he owed him "millions of dollars in arrears," they were concerned Lindell would not be able to pay them.

Newsweek reached out to Lindell by text message for comment.

In December, Lindell told Newsweek that he had racked up expensive legal bills since being sued, which led him to hire cheaper lawyers to save money.

"I had to make a decision two months ago. Our lawyer bills at MyPillow were $2 million a month to fight these frivolous lawsuits and I said, 'This is ridiculous,'" Lindell said.

He added that his new lawyers cost one-10th of the price of his previous attorneys. "It's been very hard the last couple months, but we pray every day we get through it, and I'm never giving up," he said.

Smartmatic continued in the filing: "Given Lindell and MyPillow's recent representations about their financial condition, including the need to hire new counsel, Smartmatic is concerned about its ability to collect 'the fees and costs incurred in defending itself and moving for sanctions under Rule 11.'"

"According to the motion to withdraw, Lindell and MyPillow are 'millions of dollars in arrears' to their own formal counsel; thus, Smartmatic may, for all practical purposes, be left without a remedy if this Court does not act on the pending proceedings and determine the amount of fees owed to Smartmatic under its May 19, 2022 Order."

In March, Lindell asked the Supreme Court to fast-track a separate lawsuit challenging the use of electronic tabulation systems in elections ahead of the November presidential election, which is poised to be another matchup between President Joe Biden and former President Trump.

He has said this case would bring "explosive" evidence" about the 2020 election in his filing that he believes will "shock the world," though the court has not yet said whether it will hear the case.