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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maya Yang

MyPillow CEO sued for defamation by former Dominion Voting employee

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks to a crowd gathered to hear former president Donald Trump, on 12 March, in Florence, South Carolina.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks to a crowd gathered to hear former president Donald Trump, on 12 March, in Florence, South Carolina. Photograph: Meg Kinnard/AP

The CEO of bedding company MyPillow, Mike Lindell, has been sued for defamation by a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems.

Eric Coomer, the former employee of the voting machines company that became embroiled in Donald Trump’s false claims that he was denied victory at the 2020 election because of widespread voter fraud, has filed a court complaint against Lindell, Insider reported.

The suit alleges that Lindell and his media platform Frankspeech, targeted Coomer as part of his “efforts to undermine faith in American democracy and enrich himself in the process”.

Lindell, a Trump supporter, conservative activist and conspiracy theorist, was handed the lawsuit while at a political rally he hosted in Denver, Colorado.

“What’s this?” Lindell said upon receiving the envelope.

“It’s for you,” the messenger said.

In the lawsuit, Coomer, Dominion’s former director of product strategy and security, said Lindell “has publicly accused [him] of being a ‘traitor to the United States’…[and] has claimed, without evidence, that Dr Coomer committed treason and that he should turn himself in to the authorities.”

The complaint went on to accuse Lindell of publishing numerous false statements, defamatory interviews and other “dishonest content maligning Dr Coomer” on Frankspeech, often along with a sales pitch for MyPillow products.

“Despite defendants’ baseless claims of election fraud being disproven by credible authorities across political parties, they persist in their campaign to profit from the ‘Big Lie’ [that Joe Biden didn’t win] by destroying the lives of private individuals like Dr Coomer,” the filing said.

“They have not acknowledged the harm they have caused, nor have they retracted any of their false statements,” it added.

According to the complaint, Coomer’s reputation has been “irreparably tarnished” and he is no longer able to work in the election industry “on account of the unwarranted distrust inspired by defendants’ lies.”

Instead, Coomer now receives frequent death threats and bears the “burden of being made the face of an imagined criminal conspiracy of unprecedented scope in American history”, the complaint said.

In a statement to Insider in response to the lawsuit, Lindell said: “MyPillow and Frankspeech didn’t do nothing. I don’t even know if I’ve ever mentioned Eric Coomer … They’re trying to cancel Frankspeech, your favorite show!”

Last year, Lindell appeared on Frankspeech, accusing Coomer by name of voter fraud and urging him to surrender himself to authorities.

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