MyPillow CEO and MAGA evangelist Mike Lindell says he’s out of money—completely broke—after spending millions pushing false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
In court on Wednesday, Lindell told a judge, “I’m in ruins.” He said he and his company are drowning in debt—“a combined $70 million,”—and that the IRS is now garnishing his income.
“Nobody will borrow me anymore. Not one dime. “I’m in ruins,” Lindell said, according to local CBS station WUSA9.
The financial crash comes after years of Lindell using his platform—and his fortune—to amplify debunked conspiracy theories about the election. Those claims have led to defamation lawsuits from two voting machine companies, Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic.
In one of those lawsuits, Dominion’s lawyers said Lindell kept repeating lies about the election because “the lie sells pillows.”
Now he’s facing the fallout.
Last month, Smartmatic asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to hold Lindell in contempt for refusing to pay over $50,000 in sanctions. The fine came after he filed what the court called a “frivolous” counterclaim.
He’s already been held in contempt once before for not handing over documents in that same case.
Lindell says he’s down to living on just $1,000 a week. “I don’t have $5,000 or 5 cents,” he told the judge.
At one point, Lindell said his company was making as much as $300 million a year. Now, he says “it’s all gone.”
Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, told Lindell he wants to see real financial documents to prove these claims—and ordered them to be filed under seal by the end of the week.
